| Lisa Blunt Rochester | |
| Jr/Sr: | United States Senator |
| State: | Delaware |
| Term Start: | January 3, 2025 |
| Succeeding: | Tom Carper |
| State1: | Delaware |
| Term Start1: | January 3, 2017 |
| Predecessor1: | John Carney |
| Birth Name: | Lisa LaTrelle Blunt |
| Birth Date: | 10 February 1962 |
| Birth Place: | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Party: | Democratic |
| Children: | 2 |
| Relatives: | Ted Blunt (father) |
| Education: | Fairleigh Dickinson University (BA) University of Delaware (MA) |
Lisa LaTrelle Blunt Rochester (née Blunt;[1] born February 10, 1962) is an American politician who is a United States senator-elect from Delaware. She has served as the U.S. representative for since 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, she is the first woman, and first African American, to represent Delaware in Congress.
Blunt Rochester began her political career working for Tom Carper, first in the House of Representatives, and later as he became governor of Delaware. She was appointed deputy secretary of the Department of Health and Social Services in 1993 and secretary of the Department of Labor in 1998. Blunt Rochester was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2016. During the 2020 presidential election, she was one of Joe Biden's campaign co-chairs.
In 2023, Blunt Rochester announced her candidacy to represent Delaware in the United States Senate in the 2024 election and succeed the retiring Carper, who endorsed her in the race.[2] [3] Blunt Rochester won the Democratic primary unopposed and defeated Republican nominee Eric Hansen in the general election. She will be the first woman and person of color to represent Delaware in the Senate.[4] [5]
Blunt Rochester was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on February 10, 1962.[6] Her family moved to Wilmington, Delaware, in 1969. Her father, Ted Blunt, was an educator who served on the Wilmington City Council, including as council president.[7] Her mother, Alice LaTrelle, worked in retail. Her sister Marla Blunt Carter is a professor at Rutgers University.
Blunt Rochester attended Padua Academy, began college at Villanova University and transferred to the University of Delaware in her sophomore year. She left college to live in Europe, and later received her bachelor's degree in international relations from Fairleigh Dickinson University and her master's degree in urban affairs and public policy from the University of Delaware.
Blunt Rochester worked for Tom Carper as an intern in 1989, when he represented in the United States House of Representatives. After the internship, she continued to work for Carper as a constituent relations caseworker, and worked on his transition team when he was elected governor of Delaware.[8] Carper appointed her deputy secretary of the Department of Health and Social Services in 1993 and secretary of the Department of Labor in 1998. Governor Ruth Ann Minner named Blunt Rochester the state personnel director in 2001.
In 2004, Blunt Rochester left government service and became the CEO of the Metropolitan Wilmington Urban League.[9]
Blunt Rochester ran for the United States House of Representatives in in the 2016 election.[10] She won the Democratic Party nomination on September 13 with 44% of the vote in a five-candidate primary, defeating State Senator Bryan Townsend and venture capital firm owner Sean Barney.[11] In the November 8 general election, she defeated the Republican nominee, Wyoming Mayor Hans Reigle.[12] When she was sworn into office on January 3, 2017, she became the first woman and the first African-American to represent Delaware in Congress. During her swearing-in, she carried a scarf imprinted with her great-great-great-grandfather's Reconstruction Era voter registration card. He had been a slave.[13]
On December 18, 2019, Blunt Rochester voted for both articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump.[14]
During the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol, Blunt Rochester was ushered into a secure room with fellow members of Congress. Despite House rules on mask mandates, many Republican members, including Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, abstained from wearing a mask. A clip went viral of Blunt Rochester offering masks to her Republican colleagues, in which they seemingly mocked and refused her offer. In the following days, multiple members tested positive for COVID-19.[15]
Blunt Rochester voted to impeach Trump a second time on January 13, 2021.[16]
As of 2022, Blunt Rochester had voted with President Joe Biden's stated position 100% of the time, according to FiveThirtyEight.[17]
Blunt Rochester's record on Israel is mixed. She voted to provide Israel with support following the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel,[18] [19] but voted against providing further aid in November 2023 and in February 2024.[20] [21] She voted to provide aid in April 2024.[22] In September 2024, she voted against an anti-BDS bill.[23]
Blunt Rochester played an active role in the 2020 presidential election. After Biden became the presumptive Democratic nominee in March 2020, his campaign named her one of its co-chairs.[24] At the end of April, Blunt Rochester was named a member of the vetting committee for Biden's vice presidential candidate selection.[25]
Rochester was a 2020 Democratic National Convention speaker.[26]
For the 118th Congress:[27]
See main article: 2024 United States Senate election in Delaware. On June 21, 2023, Blunt Rochester announced her candidacy for the United States Senate in the 2024 election to succeed Tom Carper.[34] Carper endorsed Blunt Rochester as his successor at his press conference announcing his retirement.[3] She was widely considered the heavy favorite to win both the Democratic primary and the general election.[35] [36] Blunt Rochester won the election with 56.6% of the vote.[37]
Blunt Rochester was married to her first husband, professional basketball player Alex Bradley, from 1982 to 2003. They met at Villanova University and lived in Italy and France while he played basketball professionally. They have two children together.[38] The marriage ended with an amicable divorce in 2003.[39]
She met her second husband, Charles Rochester, later in 2003. They married in 2006. Charles died in 2014[40] when his Achilles tendon ruptured, causing blood clots to go to his heart and lungs.
Blunt Rochester identifies as a Protestant.[41]
While living in China, Blunt Rochester co-authored the book Thrive: 34 Women, 18 Countries, One Goal.[42] [43]
| Election results | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Office | Election | Subject | Party | Votes | % | Opponent | Party | Votes | % | |||
| 2016 | U.S. House ofRepresentatives | General | Lisa Blunt Rochester | Democratic | 223,554 | 55.5% | Hans Reigle | Republican | 172,290 | 41.0% | |||
| 2018 | U.S. House ofRepresentatives | General | Lisa Blunt Rochester | Democratic | 227,333 | 64.5% | Scott Walker | Republican | 125,381 | 35.6% | |||
| 2020 | U.S. House ofRepresentatives | General | Lisa Blunt Rochester | Democratic | 280,612 | 57.6% | Lee Murphy | Republican | 195,708 | 40.2% | |||
| 2022 | U.S. House ofRepresentatives | General | Lisa Blunt Rochester | Democratic | 178,416 | 55.5% | Lee Murphy | Republican | 138,201 | 43% | |||
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