Thomas Carper

Democrat Thomas Carper has won election to statewide office a record 13 times in Delaware. He served as state treasurer for three terms (1977-82), congressman for five terms (1983-92), governor for two terms (1993-2000), and the state's Senator since 2001. His political record reflects his expertise in fiscal management, as well as a focus on education and welfare reform measures.

Early Life and Education

Thomas Richard Carper was born in Beckley, West Virginia, on January 23, 1947. He grew up in Danville, Virginia, with his parents and sister. He attended Ohio State University on a Navy ROTC Scholarship, graduating in 1968 with a bachelor's degree in economics. He served three tours of duty as a Navy flight officer in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War, spending a total of five years on active duty. He served another eighteen years in the Naval Reserve, retiring with the rank of Captain. He moved to Delaware in 1973, earning an MBA at the University of Delaware in 1975.

While working on his MBA at the College of Business and Economics, Carper also served as treasurer and fund-raiser for Jim Soles' 1974 Delaware Congressional campaign. While Soles was defeated by Pete du Pont, the race gave Carper both campaign experience and contacts in the state Democratic Party.

After graduating, he worked for one year in the Delaware Economic Development Office, resigning in 1976 to run as the Democratic candidate for the state treasurer's office. He won that race, as well as bids for reelection in 1978 and 1980. During his time as treasurer, he developed Delaware's first cash management system, and the state's credit rating improved from the nation's worst to "AA."

Congressman

In 1982, Carper won election to the US House of Representatives for Delaware at-large. He served five consecutive terms, from 1983 to 1993. While in Congress, he chaired the House Subcommittee on Economic Stabilization and was a member of the Banking, Finance, and Urban Affairs Committee and the Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee.

He was instrumental in securing ongoing funding for Amtrak, the US national rail service. He became a member of the Amtrak Board of Directors in 1994.

While in the House, Carper gained a reputation as a moderate Democrat who could work together with moderate Republicans to forge compromise legislation on such issues as welfare reform.

He also met his wife-to-be, Martha Ann Stacy. She is related to his friend John Spratt from South Carolina, who was also elected to Congress in 1982. They were married in 1986 and had two sons.

Governor

Delaware state law prevented Republican Governor Michael Castle from seeking a third term in 1992. Carper decided to run for governor, announcing he would not seek reelection to the House. In an unusual twist in state politics, Castle ran instead for Carper's House seat. In November, voters agreed that the two could swap jobs, as Castle won Delaware's lone House seat and Carper defeated B. Gary Scott to become Delaware's first Democratic governor in two decades.

As governor, he focused on welfare and education reform measures. For example, every parent on welfare was required to take parenting education. A first-time parent at age forty-one, Carper took the training himself. He also made the plan available to all state residents. One of his education initiatives was a program to recruit mentors to go into public schools to tutor children. The program enlisted volunteers from corporations, state government, colleges, and National Guard units, among others.

Carper was reelected governor in 1996 in a landslide defeat of state Treasurer Janet C. Rzewnicki, the Republican challenger. He won 69 percent of the vote, compared with his 65 percent showing in the 1992 general election.

Again relying on his fiscal expertise and aided by a rebounding US economy, he cut income taxes and was still able to balance the state budget eight years in a row. He also reduced the growth of state debt, earning Delaware its first-ever "AAA" credit rating.

In July 1998, Carper became Chairman of the National Governors' Association (NGA).

Senator

Limited to two terms in the governor's office, Carper mounted a campaign for the Senate in 2000. His incumbent opponent, Republican William Roth, was seeking a sixth term and was already the longest-serving US senator in the state's history. Roth and Democrat Joe Biden had together represented Delaware since 1972.

The race was close in both fundraising and the polls, but 79-year-old Senator Roth fainted twice while campaigning—once while being interviewed on television and the second time just days before the election. Doctors blamed the incidents on a "middle ear dysfunction" and proclaimed the senator fit, but concerns over Roth's age and health were seen to give Carper the edge in the election, as he won with 56 percent of the vote, giving Delaware two Democratic senators for the first time since the end of World War II.

In the Senate, Carper sponsored the "Empowering Parents Act," signed into law by President Bush as part of the "Leave No Child Behind Act" of 2001.

In 2002 he co-authored the Work and Family Act, which built on his experience with welfare reform at the state level. The measure aimed to give states resources and flexibility to meet more rigorous work requirements for welfare recipients.

During his first term as Senator, Carper served as chairman of the Subcommittee on Clean Air and Nuclear Safety. He was the Ranking Democrat on the EPW's Clean Air Subcommittee. He won a 2006 reelection bid against Republican candidate Jan C. Ting. In 2010, Carper and Senator Joe Lieberman introduced the Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act.

In 2012 and 2018, Carper won reelection defeating Republican challengers Kevin Wade and Rob Arlett, respectively. In 2023, he was Chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and served on the Finance and Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committees. That same year, Carper announced that he would not seek reelection in 2024, instead endorsing US Representative Lisa Blunt Rochester.

On the Issues

Bibliography

"About Tom."Senator Tom Carper, 2023, www.carper.senate.gov/about/. Accessed 27 Sept. 2024.

Barrish, Cris. "Four-Term Incumbent U.S. Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware Won't Seek Re-Election in 2024." PBS, 22 May 2023, whyy.org/articles/delaware-tom-carper-senator-2024-election/. Accessed 27 Sept. 2024.

"Priorities." Senator Tom Carper, 2023, www.carper.senate.gov/about/priorities/. Accessed 27 Sept. 2024.