Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) announced Monday that he will not seek re-election for a fifth term representing the First State — opening up a Senate seat that he has held for more than 20 years.
“If I ran for a fifth term in the Senate and won, it would be a record 15 statewide elections,” Carper, 76, bragged of his unblemished record during more than four decades in politics, starting in 1976.
But the former Navy officer — the only Vietnam veteran remaining in the Senate — said he decided to retire after “more than a few heart-to-heart conversations” with his wife, Martha.
Rather than “ride off into the sunset and call it a day,” he decided to “run through the tape over the next 20 months and finish the important work that my staff and I have begun on a wide range of fronts,” he said.
With his announcement, Carper becomes the fourth Democratic senator to forgo contesting their seat in 2024, following Ben Cardin of Maryland, Dianne Feinstein of California and Debbie Stabenow of Michigan.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) praised Carper in a statement as a “conscientious, hardworking, honorable, and effective Senate who has done so much for his beloved Delaware and America, particularly in protecting our precious environment and strengthening our transportation systems.”
“I know everyone in the Senate will certainly miss Tom, especially myself,” Schumer added. “To Tom and his entire family, thank you for everything you have done for our country.”
Republicans were less effusive, with National Republican Senatorial Committee spokesman Tate Mitchell crowing: “Senate Democrats keep retiring because they know they are going to lose the majority.”
Carper had previously considered retiring before his 2018 re-election, but ditched that plan after Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential race.
The decision paid off, with Carper easily defeating Republican challenger Rob Arlett, who had been Trump’s state campaign chair.
The West Virginia-born pol said he now feels comfortable stepping away because “the Delaware Democratic Party is blessed today with a bench as strong as any I’ve ever seen in the 50 years that I’ve called Delaware home.”
“If there was ever an opportune time to step aside and pass the torch to the next generation, it’s coming, and it will be here on January 3, 2025,” he said, referring to the day his successor would take his seat.
“But, until then, God willing, I’ll continue working 60-hour weeks and coming home on the train most nights as long as Martha keeps leaving the light on for me,” added Carper, according to the Delaware News Journal.
Carper was just 29 when he was elected to the first of three terms as Delaware’s state treasurer. He then served five terms in the US House — a seat he sought at the insistence of then-Sen. Joe Biden — and two as governor before being elected to the Senate in 2000.
Currently, Carper chairs the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee after overseeing the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee between 2013 and 2015.