47 Facts About Tom Carper

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

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

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

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

Tom Carper was elected to the US Senate in 2000, defeating Republican incumbent William Roth.

Tom Carper was reelected by landslides in 2006,2012, and 2018.

Tom Carper 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.

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

Tom Carper is the last Vietnam War veteran to serve in the Senate.

Tom Carper was born in Beckley, West Virginia, the son of Mary Jean and Wallace Richard Tom Carper.

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

Tom Carper 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, Tom Carper became a member of the Beta Phi Chapter of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity.

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

Tom Carper remained in the US Naval Reserve as a P-3 aircraft mission commander for another 18 years and retired with the rank of Captain.

Tom Carper 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.

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

Tom 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 Tom Carper had abused his wife and stepchildren.

Tom Carper was a member of the US House Committee on Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs and the US House Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries.

In 1990, Carper defeated a Reed ally, Daniel D Rappa, in the Democratic primary for US representative.

Tom Carper positioned himself as a moderate, business-oriented governor, emphasizing economic development and business recruitment.

Tom Carper led an ongoing effort to reduce income tax rates, eliminate the marriage penalty and estate tax, cut the public utility tax, and eliminate the gross receipts tax for many small businesses.

Tom Carper had high approval ratings, but was criticized by some old-line Democrats and union leaders.

Tom Carper established the Delaware Mentoring Council to help sustain this legacy.

Roth started the campaign with a 2-to-1 spending advantage, but Tom Carper went into the final month with more than $1 million on hand.

Tom Carper served with the Democratic minority in the 108th and 109th Congresses and was part of the Democratic majority in the 110th Congress.

Tom Carper is a member of the moderate Democratic Leadership Council, of which he serves as vice chair.

In 2004, Tom Carper became part of the Senate Democratic leadership.

Tom Carper voted for the Budget Control Act, against cut, cap and balance, for debt increase, for debt ceiling increase, for debt limit increase, for the stimulus, for TARP, for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, for SCHIP, for DREAM, and for the Immigration Reform Act of 2006.

Tom Carper voted against banning abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy, but voted to ban the use of federal funds for abortion.

Tom Carper joined 23 other Senate Democrats in signing a letter supporting Obama taking executive action to reduce gun violence.

In 2016, Tom Carper participated in the Chris Murphy gun control filibuster.

In January 2019, Tom 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.

Tom Carper 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.

Tom Carper has sought additional funding for railroad projects and for rail security.

Tom Carper strongly supported legislation to limit class action lawsuits and to restrict personal bankruptcy.

In 2012, Tom Carper sponsored a bill, eventually passed and signed into law, that required government agencies to identify $125 billion in expected waste and fraud.

Tom 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, Tom Carper briefly chaired a Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works hearing on the Tennessee Valley Authority's coal ash spill in Kingston, Tennessee.

Tom Carper co-wrote the "Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act of 2010" introduced on June 19,2010, by Senator Joe Lieberman.

In May 2010, Tom Carper introduced an amendment to limit state regulators from enforcing consumer regulations on national banks and their subsidiaries.

Tom Carper said that he preferred legislation that would have a greater chance of becoming law, such as an increase to only $9 an hour.

Tom Carper signed a law as Governor defining "marriage as between a man and a woman," but he voted as a Senator against the Federal Marriage Amendment, a proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage.

Tom Carper voted against banning gay marriage again in 2006.

In 2013, Tom Carper announced that he now supports same-sex marriage.

Tom Carper says this arrangement has helped his family live a normal life despite his demanding, high-profile job.

Tom Carper has been married twice, first in 1978, to Diane Beverly Isaacs, a former Miss Delaware, who had two children by a previous marriage.