PORKEROpen the app

Former member of Congress · last served 118th Congress

Official portrait of Sen. Thomas R. Carper

Thomas R. Carper

DEMOCRAT U.S. Senator · DelawareSenate 2001–2025 · House 1983–1993 (DE-AL)

Thomas Carper was a Democratic U.S. senator from Delaware, first elected to Congress in 1983, who voted with most Democrats on 92% of the 112th Congress’s yes/no votes and sponsored 10 bills that became law (113th–118th Congress).

Open full dossier →
171Bills & resolutions sponsored113th–118th Congress (excludes amendments)
19Passed a chamberof 142 substantive bills (excludes resolutions and ceremonial bills)
10Became law10 substantive + 0 ceremonial · 113th–118th Congress
21Broke with partyof 251 yes/no votes, 112th (8.4%)
0Missed votesof 251 roll calls, 112th (0.0%)
$75.3MPork: own shareFY2024 earmarks, 57 items; shared items split

How we count: “Broke with party” is a yes/no roll call where the member voted against most of their own party on that vote (party as recorded; even splits not counted). “Pork: own share” splits each earmark shared by several members evenly among them.

5 most recent votes

5 most recent bills

Top bills sponsored

Laws first, then bills that passed a chamber, were reported from committee, or drew the most cosponsors.

Elections Sen. Carper has won

Sen. Carper has won 5 U.S. House elections (1982–1990) and 4 U.S. Senate elections (2000, 2006, 2012, 2018). Of the contested races, margins ran from 6.1 to 41.5 points.

010204060Margin of victory, points (axis starts at 0)1982, DE-AL: won by 6.1 points1982DE-AL1984, DE-AL: won by 17.0 points19841986, DE-AL: won by 32.7 points19861988, DE-AL: won by 35.0 points19881990, DE-AL: won by 32.8 points19902000, DE Senate: won by 11.8 points2000DE Senate2006, DE Senate: won by 41.5 points20062012, DE Senate: won by 37.5 points20122018, DE Senate: won by 22.1 points2018
Democratic winRepublican winseat changed partyunopposed
Elections won9 in the data (1976–2024); losses are not listed
Closest win: 6.1 points1982, DE-AL
Won an open seat or took one from the other party2 of 9 elections (open seat or changed party)
Seat history, Delaware (at-large)Winners, most recent three: John C. Carney Jr. (D) 2010–2014 → Lisa Blunt Rochester (D) 2016–2022 → Sarah McBride (D) 2024. Elections shown, not terms; special elections not included.
Seat history, Delaware Senate (class 1)Winners in regular elections, most recent three: William Roth (R) 1976–1994 → Thomas R. Carper (D) 2000–2018 → Lisa Blunt Rochester (D) 2024.

Full election history for this seat →

Source: MIT Election Data and Science Lab, U.S. House V15 / U.S. Senate V8 (CC0), retrieved 2026-10-18; winners matched to member records by seat and term. Results run through the 2024 elections; nothing from 2026 is shown until it is certified. A margin is a fact about one election, never a score of how well a member represents anyone, and PORKER does not rank members by it.

How has Delaware done while Sen. Carper served?

2005 to 2024 in Delaware: typical household income was about the same after inflation, the share of people below the poverty line was about the same, and the share of workers looking for a job was about the same.

Typical household income · after inflationDelaware $87.5KU.S. $81.6K
Delaware: $84.8K in 2005 → $87.5K in 2024
Delaware about the sameU.S. up 9%
Share of people below the poverty lineU.S. 12.1%Delaware 9.6%
Delaware: 10.4% in 2005 → 9.6% in 2024
Delaware about the sameU.S. down 1.2 points
Share of workers looking for a jobDelaware 5.1%U.S. 4.6%
Delaware: 5.6% in 2005 → 5.1% in 2024
Delaware about the sameU.S. down 2.3 points

Each mini chart has its own scale, fitted to its lines (it does not start at zero), so compare the numbers, not the heights. Oxblood = state, grey = U.S.

While they served, not because of them. This shows what happened in Delaware during Carper’s time representing it (2001 to 2025). It does not say what the member did or caused. It is not a score, and PORKER never ranks members on it.

Survey years start at 2005. The yearly estimates for Delaware begin in 2005, so 2001 to 2004 are not shown. No 2020 yearly estimate exists.

See the full 20-year record →Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 1-year estimates (tables B19013, B17001, B23001) and BLS CPI-U-RS for inflation, retrieved October 18, 2026. “About the same” means the change is inside the 90% margins of error. Who held the seat: Congress.gov member service records, year level.

Official records on bills this member sponsored

118th Congress. What Congress.gov lists for the 36 bills sponsored.

RecordBillsSource
Bills sponsored36Source: Congress.gov member record, PORKER copy of October 26, 2026 ↗ See them →
With a CBO cost estimate listed9See the 9 →
With a committee report listed6See the 6 →
Evidence
How counted
Bills where this member is the lead (first-listed) sponsor in the 118th Congress, read from the stored Congress.gov bill records
Fields
cboCostEstimates, committeeReports, constitutionalAuthorityStatementText, notes
PORKER copy refreshed
October 26, 2026 (nightly)

Read this first. These are counts of records Congress.gov lists. Many bills never get a CBO estimate or a report, so a zero is not a mark against a member. We never show this as a score.

Open full dossier →

Data as of Oct 26, 2026 · latest recorded Senate vote Sep 30, 2026 · Sources: Congress.gov, Senate.gov, House Clerk, Appropriations Committee earmark tables. PORKER is non-partisan.