Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D) announces run for Senate seat in Delaware

Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) announced Wednesday that she is running for Delaware’s vacant Senate seat.

“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,” the Delaware Democrat tweeted, along with her first ad kicking off the campaign.

The ad touched on several of the same themes that Democrats ran on in last November’s midterms, including abortion and threats to democracy during the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. The ad offers a preview of how Democrats will look to define themselves heading into the 2024 election.

“People asked me if Jan. 6 was my worst day. It was, but it was also one of my proudest moments, because we walked back in that House chamber, and we completed our work. The forces of fear did not win and democracy prevailed,” Blunt Rochester said in the ad. 

She officially filed paperwork Tuesday to run for the seat, which is being vacated by Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), who announced last month he wouldn’t be seeking another term.

Carper, who signaled during his announcement last month that he wanted Blunt Rochester to run, endorsed her Wednesday shortly after her campaign announcement.

“Serving the people of Delaware alongside Lisa has been one of the great joys of my life. She is just the kind of leader that we’ll need in the U.S. Senate in the days ahead, and she will make us proud. Indeed, she already has!” Carper said in a statement of his former aide.

The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates the Senate race as “solid Democrat.”

Should Blunt Rochester be elected next year, she would be first Black woman to serve in the Senate since Vice President Harris stepped down from her role as a California senator to serve in the Biden administration.

Updated at 9:22 a.m. EDT.