Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) announced on May 22 that he will not seek reelection for a fifth term in the Senate.
Carper’s declaration opens the door to a wide-open fight for the seat he has held since 2001 in Delaware, a state with a largely Democrat population.
“If I ran for a fifth term in the Senate and won, it would be a record 15 statewide elections,” Carper, 76, said in prepared remarks at a Wilmington news conference.
The lawmaker said that he and his wife, Martha, started to consider this decision months ago.
“After a good deal of prayer and introspection, and more than a few heart-to-heart conversations, we’ve decided we should 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, many of them begun in partnership with Democrat and Republican colleagues in the Senate and in the House,” he said….