Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE) announced her bid to run for the U.S. Senate on Wednesday, almost a month after Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE), her mentor, announced his retirement at the end of this Congress.
Blunt Rochester had long been expected to jump into the race and is the immediate favorite, having already held statewide office since winning Delaware’s at-large congressional seat in 2016.
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“I’m running to represent Delaware in the United States Senate,” Blunt Rochester said in her announcement video. “That little girl from Wilmington couldn’t have imagined that we’d be standing here today. A more perfect union is not a destination. It’s a journey. Let’s go on it together.”
In the video, Blunt Rochester talks about coming back to the floor after the siege on the Capitol on Jan. 6 to certify President Joe Biden’s election victory and about the unexpected death of her husband, Charles, from blood clots following him tearing his Achilles tendon.
His death eventually led to her first running for Congress, she said.
“For a while, I was gone, too,” Blunt Rochester said. “But one thing Charles always said was, ‘You gotta get your mind right.’ So I did. I decided to run for Congress.”
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During his retirement announcement in May, Carper all but endorsed Blunt Rochester, saying, “I hope you run, and I hope you’ll let me support you.”
Delaware is a deep blue state where the winner of the Democratic primary will all but have the general election locked up. If she wins, Blunt Rochester would be the third black woman to win election to the U.S. Senate.
