Rep. Blunt Rochester of Delaware enters Senate race as heavy favorite
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Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) announced an expected bid for the Senate on Wednesday, entering the 2024 race as a heavy favorite and setting up the prospect of becoming only the third Black woman in U.S. history to be elected to the chamber. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight Blunt Rochester, 61, is seeking the seat being vacated by Sen. Thomas R. Carper (D-Del.), who announced last month that he would retire after a fourth term. Carper endorsed Blunt Rochester on Wednesday as his successor in the Democratic-leaning state.
“It’s been the greatest honor of my life to represent Delaware, to protect our seniors, our environment, our small businesses and women’s reproductive rights, but we’ve got so much more to do,” Blunt Rochester, an ally of President Biden, said in an announcement video.
Blunt Rochester is the state’s sole representative in Congress and both the first woman and first Black person to hold the office.
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She won reelection to a fourth term last year with more than 55 percent of the vote and would be well-positioned for a Senate primary facing the same statewide electorate. Every statewide official in Delaware is a Democrat.
The 2024 Senate race in Delaware is not high on the target list for Republicans nationally as they seek to win back control of the chamber during a cycle in which Democrats are defending several more probable targets for flipping seats.
Only two Black women — Democrats Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois and Vice President Harris of California — have served in the U.S. Senate. There are no Black women in the chamber in this Congress.
Blunt Rochester joins several other Black women running for Senate next year, including Barbara Lee in California and Angela D. Alsobrooks in Maryland, both of whom are in competitive Democratic primaries for open seats.
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Blunt Rochester’s announcement video opens with a focus on her religious faith, starting with attendance of services with her grandmother at Bright Hope Baptist Church in Philadelphia, the city where she was born.
“Bright Hope, it’s more than a place where I worshiped with my grandmother,” the congresswoman says. “It’s the spirit of resilience that’s always lifted me through good times and bad. Even as a little girl, Bright Hope sparked in me. It became the story of my life. And bright hope is the story of America, too.”
The video also touches on the 2014 death of her husband, her subsequent decision to run for Congress in 2016, her work in the chamber and the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) signaled his support for Blunt Rochester last month following Carper’s retirement announcement and praised her hours after her announcement Wednesday.
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“I believe Lisa has everything it takes to be a really great Senator and I look forward to sitting down to discuss the campaign with her soon,” Schumer said in a statement.
In a statement Wednesday, Carper offered a full-throated endorsement of Blunt Rochester.
“Lisa is a person of deep faith and she is guided by that faith in all that she does,” he said. “She is the embodiment of the Golden Rule — to treat others as we would want to be treated. She can be tough when she needs to be, but she is one of the most caring people I have ever known and worked with.”
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Source: The Washington Post
