Tom Carper

Thomas Richard Carper (born January 23, 1947) is an American politician and former military officer serving as the senior United States senator from Delaware, having held the seat since 2001.

Serving as a naval flight officer in the U.S. Navy from 1968 until 1973, he flew the P-3 Orion as a tactical coordinator and mission commander and saw active duty in the Vietnam War.

After leaving the active duty Navy, he remained in the U.S. Naval Reserve for another 18 years and eventually retired with the rank of Captain (O-6).

He then graduated from the Ohio State University in 1968, where he was a midshipman in the Naval ROTC and earned a degree in economics.

At Ohio State, Carper became a member of the Beta Phi Chapter of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity.

Serving as a Naval Flight Officer in the U.S. Navy from 1968 until 1973, he served three tours of duty in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War.

He remained in the U.S. Naval Reserve as a P-3 aircraft mission commander for another 18 years and retired with the rank of Captain (O-6).

While in college at the Ohio State University, Carper worked on the presidential campaign of U.S. Senator Eugene McCarthy.

In Delaware, he worked as the campaign treasurer for University of Delaware professor James R. Soles in his unsuccessful 1974 bid for the U.S. House of Representatives.

Upon receiving his MBA from the University of Delaware in 1975, Carper went to work for the state of Delaware in its economic development office.

Carper earned an MBA from the University of Delaware in 1975.

After receiving his MBA degree in 1975, Carper went to work for the State of Delaware's economic development office.

In 1976, after developing good relationships with members of the state party leadership, he took out a $5,000 personal loan to fund his campaign to be Treasurer of Delaware.

In the election, he defeated the favored Republican Party candidate, Theodore Jones.

He was elected state treasurer, serving from 1977 to 1983 and leading the development of Delaware's first cash management system.

He served three terms, from January 18, 1977, through January 3, 1983, during which time he oversaw the development of Delaware's first cash management system.

Encouraged by local politicians, Carper successfully ran for Delaware's only seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1982.

He served five terms in the House, where he chaired the Subcommittee on Economic Stabilization.

In 1982, U.S. Senator Joe Biden and other prominent Democrats convinced Carper to run for Delaware's only seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Incumbent Republican Thomas B. Evans Jr. sought reelection, and although he had been caught in a compromising "association" on a golfing trip with the lobbyist Paula Parkinson, was still considered a strong candidate.

Carper was considered well-positioned until three weeks before Election Day, when the New York Post published an article claiming that the "dirtiest campaign in the country is being waged in tiny Delaware", which suggested that Carper had abused his wife and stepchildren.

But when rumors spread that the story was "planted" by a supporter of Evans, Carper bounced back, with public opinion seeming to be that the allegations inappropriately exploited private issue.

Carper and his wife both denied the allegations in 1982, but he later admitted to having slapped her.

Carper defeated Evans.

Carper served five terms in the House.

A member of the Democratic Party, Carper served in the United States House of Representatives from 1983 to 1993 and was the 71st governor of Delaware from 1993 to 2001.

A native of Beckley, West Virginia, Carper graduated from Ohio State University.

He won his second term in 1984, defeating Elise R. W. du Pont, the wife of retiring Governor Pete du Pont.

He then easily defeated Republicans Thomas S. Neuberger in 1986, James P. Krapf in 1988 and Ralph O. Williams in 1990.

He was a member of the U.S. House Committee on Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs and the U.S. House Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries.

He chaired the House Subcommittee on Economic Stabilization.

In 1992, he swapped positions with term-limited Republican Governor Mike Castle, and the two were easily elected to each other's seats.

Carper governed for two terms as a moderate, business-oriented New Democrat, following the lead of the two previous Republican governors.

Carper was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2000, defeating Republican incumbent William Roth.

He was reelected by landslides in 2006, 2012, and 2018.

He serves as one of four deputy Democratic whips, the chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and the Finance Committee.

Carper is the senior senator in Delaware's congressional delegation and the dean of the delegation.

He is the last Vietnam War veteran to serve in the Senate.

Carper was born in Beckley, West Virginia, the son of Mary Jean (née Patton) and Wallace Richard Carper.

He grew up in Danville, Virginia, and graduated from Whetstone High School in Columbus, Ohio.