Sen. Tom Carper Announces Retirement, Opening Up Delaware Seat

Longtime Delaware Senator Tom Carper has announced that he will not seek a fifth term in the Senate, becoming the latest Senate Democrat to retire. Carper's move opens up a safe seat for Democrats in an otherwise difficult year for the party in the Senate majority. The state's lone congresswoman, Lisa Blunt Rochester, is favored to succeed him. Carper has been in public office since 1977, serving as a state official, then as a House member in Congress, before winning two terms as governor and then taking his current Senate seat in 2001.