Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE) is running for the Senate, potentially becoming the third Black woman to serve in the Chamber.
Rochester made the announcement Wednesday morning on Twitter with a video of her at the Bright Hope Baptist Church in Philadelphia, where she lived until her family moved to Delaware when she was seven.
I’m running to represent Delaware in the United States Senate.
I’m filled with Bright Hope for our future. But a more perfect union isn’t a destination. It’s a journey. Let’s go on it together.
Join me ➡️ https://t.co/tymKWayXko https://t.co/VeXvchGV0v
— Lisa Blunt Rochester (@LisaBRochester) June 21, 2023
“It’s been the greatest honor of my life to represent Delaware,” Rochester said in her announcement video. “To represent our seniors, our environment, our small businesses, and women’s reproductive rights, but we’ve got so much more to do.”
Blunt Rochester, 61, who joined the House in 2017 and was the first woman and person of color to represent Delaware in Congress, is running to succeed Sen. Tom Carper, who said in May he would retire after four terms in the Senate.
Carper endorsed Blunt Rochester during his retirement announcement. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told Politico in May he believed the congresswoman would make a good senator.
In the video, Blunt Rochester also talked about her late husband, Charles Rochester, who died in 2014.
“It literally took 30 years before I even ran for Congress. And I did that after the unexpected death of my husband,” Blunt Rochester said. “And I ran even though I had never run for anything, as a widow, over 50, Black, woman, and we made history.”
Despite Delaware, the home state of President Joe Biden, being a Democratic stronghold, Blunt Rochester said she plans to campaign aggressively. According to Politico, left-wing strategists and elected officials don’t necessarily consider her one of their own, but are comfortable with Blunt Rochester, who they believe is far more liberal than Carper and a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus
The University of Delaware alumna is one of several Black women who are eyeing Senate seats in next year’s election.