Tom Carper is a longtime member of the United States Senate. A moderate Democrat, Carper was elected to the Senate from the State of Delaware. Previously, he'd been the state's governor, treasurer and a member of the United States House of Representatives.
Carper is presently the chairman of the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works. In years past, he was the committee's ranking member and chair of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
Carper is also currently chair of the Finance Subcommittee on International Trade, Customs, and Global Competitiveness. But he is apparently ready move on from all of the positions.
Says he will not run for re-election
Tom Carper will not stand for another term in the Senate, CNN reports. The next U.S. Senate election in Delaware is scheduled for 2024. Carper calls his departure "an opportune time to step aside and pass the torch to the next generation."
So far, no candidate has officially entered the race for Delaware's Senate seat up for grabs in 2024. Axios indicates much of the attention has already centered on Democratic U.S.
Representative Lisa Blunt Rochester as a possibility. Other Democrats that have been thought of as potential contenders included Governor John Carney.
Carper's political career began as a staffer on Minnesota U.S. Senator Eugene McCarthy's unsuccessful 1968 Presidential campaign. He also later worked on the unsuccessful campaign for Democratic U.S. House nominee James R. Soles in 1974.
In 1976, Carper was elected as treasurer of Delaware in an upset. He would be re-elected to the office twice. In 1982, Carper was elected to Delaware's lone seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. He had defeated Republican incumbent Thomas B. Evans Jr.. Carper would win four more terms in the House. Along the way, he would chair the Economic Stabilization Subcommittee of what is now the House Committee on Financial Services.
In 1992, moderate Republican Delaware Governor Mike Castle was term limited from seeking another term in the office. What would ensue has been referred to by some as 'The Swap' over time. Carper won the race to become the state's next governor handily. Meanwhile, Castle won Carper's U.S. House seat and would become a mainstay in Congress. In 1996, Carper was re-elected in a landslide over the Republican nominee, State Treasurer Janet Rzewnicki.
Four years later, he defeated Republican incumbent William Roth by a wide margin for a seat in the U.S. Senate. Roth was chairman of the Senate Finance Committee at the time. Carper has been easily elected three times subsequently.
Was a high-ranking officer in the United States Navy
Tom Carper is a native of Beckley, West Virginia, not far from Charleston. After moving to Danville in southern Virginia, he eventually graduated from Columbus, Ohio's Whetstone High School. He later graduated from Ohio State University and the University of Delaware. At Ohio State, Carper was a member of the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps.
Carper became a pilot in the U.S. Navy, including flying the P-3 Orion. His military career also included serving three tours of duty in the Vietnam War. He would retire from the Navy holding the rank of captain.