Tom Carper

Carper in his early Senate career

The elections of 2000 promised to bring a change in Delaware's political lineup. For 16 years, the same four people had held the four major statewide positions — Governor Carper and fellow Democratic Senator Joe Biden, and Republicans U.S. Representative Michael Castle and Senator William Roth. Because of gubernatorial term limits, Carper had to retire from the post. He wanted to run for the Senate against the incumbent Roth. Roth would not retire voluntarily and fellow Republican Castle would not force him into a primary. Carper declared his candidacy in September 1999.[8] In a contest between two popular and respected politicians, the issue seemed to be Roth's age: Roth was 79, versus Carper's relative youth. Although Roth started the campaign with a 2-to-1 spending advantage, Carper went into the final month with more than $1 million on hand.[9] Carper defeated Roth by twelve points, 56% to 44%. Roth received more votes than Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush, suggesting that the strength of the Democratic turnout for the presidential election was a key factor in Carper's victory. Some commentators attributed Roth's defeat to his age and health, as he collapsed twice during the campaign, once in the middle of a television interview and once during a campaign event.[9][10][11]

Carper sought re-election to a second term in 2006. He was unopposed in the Democratic primary and faced off against Republican candidate Jan C. Ting. Ting was a professor of law who had narrowly beaten airline pilot Michael D. Protack in the Republican primary. Carper was easily re-elected in a landslide win, beating Ting 67% to 27%.

As the 2012 election cycle began, a Super PAC was created to oppose Carper's re-election campaign. The Hill quoted Patrick Davis, the custodian of records and agent for Renew Delaware as saying: "Tom Carper has served in the United States Senate for a long time and has been part of the downturn in our economy." Delaware Politics noted that the election would be costly for the Republican candidate and that the popular Carper was heavily favored to win a third term in office.[12] A Carper spokesperson, Emily Spain, was quoted in The Hill saying that Carper was successful in his previous campaigns "because he works hard, takes nothing for granted, and puts the needs and interests of Delaware first."[13] Carper won the Democratic primary with 88% of the vote and faced off against the only Republican candidate who filed for the race, businessman Kevin Wade. Carper was re-elected in another landslide, beating Wade 66% to 29%.

In August 2018, Carper was seeking his fourth six-year term in the United States Senate.[14][15] His campaign contributors included DuPont, with DuPont being his third largest contributor since 2013. Between 2013 and 2018, he received $2.1 million from political action committees.[16] Carper was challenged from the left by Kerri Evelyn Harris, a US Air Force Veteran. She contrasts with Carper in that she advocates a single payer healthcare system,[17] and Carper wants to keep working on the Affordable Health Care Act.[18] Carper defeated Harris in the primary election with roughly 65% of the vote.[19] It was Carper's most competitive primary in his recent political history. In the general election, Carper defeated Republican opponent Rob Arlett by a landslide margin of 22.2 points, 60.0% to 37.8%.[20]

He served with the Democratic minority in the 108th and 109th Congresses, and was part of the Democratic majority in the 110th Congress. At the beginning of the 107th Congress, the Democratic Party was in the minority, but later held the majority. Carper is a member of the moderate Democratic Leadership Council (DLC), of which he currently serves as Vice-Chairman. In December 2004, Carper became a part of the Senate Democratic Leadership. As a member of a four-person "Executive Committee", he is one of four deputy whips. David Broder of The Washington Post has called Carper "a notably effective and non-partisan leader, admired and trusted on both sides of the aisle."[21]

During the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol, Carper said he did not support invoking the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution nor impeachment of Trump.[22] But hours later, he called on Trump to resign. He also called the attackers "domestic terrorists." That evening, he voted in support of certifying the 2021 United States Electoral College vote count.[23]

• Committee on Environment and Public Works (Chairman)[24]
• Committee on Finance
  • Subcommittee on Energy, Natural Resources, and Infrastructure
  • Subcommittee on Health Care
  • Subcommittee on Taxation and IRS Oversight
• Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
  • Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (Chair)
  • Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs and Federal Management

• Senate Oceans Caucus

Carper has a mixed record on abortion issues. In 2003, he was one of 17 Democrats who broke with the majority of their party by voting to ban partial-birth abortion.[29] He also voted against banning abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy, but voted to ban the use of federal funds for abortion.[30] In 2018, he opposed President Trump's proposal to defund Planned Parenthood.[31] Carper was given a 50% rating by NARAL Pro-Choice America, indicating a mixed record on abortion, according to their scoring, and a 25% rating from the anti-abortion National Right to Life Committee.[32] After Roe v. Wade was overturned in June 2022, he said the decision was "unconscionably cruel and wrong" and that it was a "dark day for our country and our Constitution."[33]

In April 2019, Carper was one of thirty-four senators to sign a letter to President Trump encouraging him "to listen to members of your own Administration and reverse a decision that will damage our national security and aggravate conditions inside Central America", asserting that Trump had "consistently expressed a flawed understanding of U.S. foreign assistance" since becoming president and that he was "personally undermining efforts to promote U.S. national security and economic prosperity" through preventing the use of Fiscal Year 2018 national security funding. The senators argued that foreign assistance to Central American countries created less migration to the U.S., citing the funding's helping to improve conditions in those countries.[34]

Carper joined 23 other Senate Democrats in signing a letter supporting Obama taking executive action to reduce gun violence.[35] In 2013, he voted to ban high-capacity magazines of over 10 bullets.[36] In 2016, Carper participated in the Chris Murphy gun control filibuster.[37] In response to the 2017 Las Vegas shooting, Carper called for more gun laws, specifically background checks and mental health screenings.[38]

In January 2019, Carper was one of forty senators to introduce the Background Check Expansion Act, a bill that would require background checks for either the sale or transfer of all firearms including all unlicensed sellers. Exceptions to the bill's background check requirement included transfers between members of law enforcement, loaning firearms for either hunting or sporting events on a temporary basis, providing firearms as gifts to members of one's immediate family, firearms being transferred as part of an inheritance, or giving a firearm to another person temporarily for immediate self-defense.[39]

Carper in 2015

He joined in the unsuccessful attempt to tie the Bush administration tax cuts to deficit reduction and has supported additional funding for school choice programs and charter schools. He has also sought additional funding for railroad projects and for rail security. He strongly supported legislation to limit class action lawsuits and to restrict personal bankruptcy. In addition, he is a strong proponent of free trade. In 2012, Carper sponsored a bill, eventually passed and signed into law, that required government agencies to identify $125 billion in expected waste and fraud.[40]

Carper and George Voinovich of Ohio proposed a 25-cent raise in the federal gasoline tax; 10 cents would go to pay down the debt and the rest toward improving the nation's infrastructure. The measure was proposed in November 2010.[41] The measure did not pass.

On May 14, 2011, The Wall Street Journal criticized a postal-bailout bill co-sponsored by Carper and Susan Collins (R-Maine). The bill would give $50–$75 billion to USPS, and would underwrite pension obligations for retired postal workers. The bailout would cost three times the savings of the 2011 federal budget.[42]

On August 1, 2019, the Senate passed a bipartisan budget deal that raised spending over current levels by 320 billion and lifted the debt ceiling for the following two years in addition to forming a course for funding the government without the perceived fiscal brinkmanship of recent years. Carper joined Joe Manchin and Republicans Mitt Romney and Rick Scott in issuing a statement asserting that "as former Governors, we were responsible for setting a budget each year that was fiscally responsible to fund our priorities. That's why today, we, as U.S. Senators, cannot bring ourselves to vote for this budget deal that does not put our country on a fiscally sustainable path."[43]

Carper proposed the creation of a National Park in Delaware, the Coastal Heritage Park, in four locations along the Delaware River and Delaware Bay. In January 2009, Carper briefly chaired a Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works hearing on the Tennessee Valley Authority's coal ash spill in Kingston, Tennessee. However, he did vote for Keystone XL Pipeline, but has since expressed disappointment in that vote.[44]

Carper supports the EPA and Clean Air Act and blames states to the west of Delaware for its air pollution, calling them "America's tailpipe".[45]

In April 2019, Carper was one of forty-one senators to sign a bipartisan letter to the housing subcommittee praising the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development's Section 4 Capacity Building program as authorizing "HUD to partner with national nonprofit community development organizations to provide education, training, and financial support to local community development corporations (CDCs) across the country" and expressing disappointment that President Trump's budget "has slated this program for elimination after decades of successful economic and community development." The senators wrote of their hope that the subcommittee would support continued funding for Section 4 in Fiscal Year 2020.[46]

Carper co-wrote the "Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act of 2010"[47] introduced on June 19, 2010, by Senator Joe Lieberman (Senator Susan Collins is the third co-author of this bill). If signed into law, this controversial bill, which the American media dubbed the "Kill switch bill", would grant the President emergency powers over the Internet. All three co-authors of the bill, however, issued a statement claiming that instead, the bill "[narrowed] existing broad Presidential authority to take over telecommunications networks".[48] Carper was quoted as saying that the bill "would create a National Center for Cybersecurity and Communications in the Department of Homeland Security, with a Senate-confirmed director to oversee security of the federal government's computer networks. The center would also identify vulnerabilities and help secure key private networks – like utilities and communications systems – that, if attacked or commandeered by a foreign power or cyberterrorists, could result in the crippling of our economy."[49]

In May 2010, Carper introduced an amendment to limit state regulators from enforcing consumer regulations on national banks and their subsidiaries. It would also remove a Senate legislative measure requiring the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to find a "substantive standard" on regulation, before the office could move to preempt. The White House opposed Carper's amendment. The amendment passed by a vote of 80–18.[50]

On September 21, 2011, The Wall Street Journal noted that President Obama's job-creation plans were drawing resistance from Senate Democrats. The article quoted Carper as saying, "I think the best jobs bill that can be passed is a comprehensive long-term deficit-reduction plan. That's better than everything else the president is talking about combined."[51]

In April 2014, the United States Senate debated the Minimum Wage Fairness Act (S. 1737; 113th Congress). The bill would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA) to increase the federal minimum wage for employees to $10.10 per hour over the course of a two-year period.[52] The bill was strongly supported by President Barack Obama and many of the Democratic Senators, but strongly opposed by Republicans in the Senate and House.[53][54][55] Carper said that he preferred legislation that would have a greater chance of becoming law, such as an increase to only $9 an hour.[54]

On March 5, 2021, Carper voted against Bernie Sanders's amendment to include a $15/hour minimum wage in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.[56]

Carper signed a law as Governor defining "marriage as between a man and a woman," but he also voted as a Senator against the Federal Marriage Amendment, a proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage.[57] He also voted against banning gay marriage again in 2006.[58] In 2013, Carper announced that he now supports same-sex marriage.[59]

Carper voted yes on the 2002 Iraq War Resolution.[60]