DELAWARE - Longtime Delaware Senator Tom Carper, a Democrat, has announced he will not be seeking reelection. The announcement was made today in Wilmington.
Senator Carper, 76, has served as one of Delaware’s United States Senators for 22 years and was first elected to the position in 2001. He assumed the title of senior senator when Joe Biden stepped down to become Vice President in 2009.
The Senator had previously served as the State’s governor from 1993 to 2001. Prior to that, Carper was elected as the state treasurer in 1976, then represented Delaware in the United States House of Representatives for a decade beginning in 1983.
Carper was born in West Virginia and attended Ohio State University before serving as a naval flight officer during the Vietnam war. He moved to Delaware in 1973.
Had Carper run for reelection in 2024, he would have been 83 at the end of the term. The Senator plans to serve out the final year of his current term before retiring.