Lisa Blunt Rochester Recounts Career in Congress, Vision for Senate

Wilmington, Del. —  In case you missed it, Lisa Blunt Rochester spoke with the Washington Post’s Paul Kane about her race for the U.S. Senate, and the pragmatic, optimistic approach that has defined her career. She also reflected on how her commitment to democracy — shaped by her family’s history — drives her campaign. The article highlights her steady leadership, including her experience being trapped up in the House balcony on Jan. 6, and her continued focus on bridge-building in a polarized congress. 

Read the full article here. 

Highlights: 

• Now, after eight years as the cheerful optimist who led lawmakers in prayer and handed out masks during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, she is favored to make history again by becoming the state’s first woman in the Senate and just the fourth Black woman to ever serve in the chamber.

• “Right now, we are all in the work phase and recognize that excitement in and of itself is not enough. We’ve got to use this excitement as the fuel to make sure that we get across the finish line first,” Blunt Rochester said in one of two interviews in recent days.

• Unfurling the scarf in her Wilmington office, she wondered what her great-great-great-grandfather would have thought if he knew Blunt Rochester was on the verge of winning a seat in one of the most exclusive clubs in America, the Senate, where so few Black women have ever served.

• [H]er cheery disposition and work at building bridges across the aisle, without clamoring for the spotlight, feel somewhat anachronistic in an era where so many live for trolling the opposing party on social media and scoring hits on cable news.

• She calls herself a “pragmatic optimist” — able to see the reality of particularly bad situations but determined to turn those into a positive outcome. “It’s a choice. And I choose to operate this way because, number one, I want to be effective. Number two is it’s part of my faith,” Blunt Rochester said.

• Last year, she introduced the Charles Rochester Blood Clot Prevention and Treatment Act as part of her ongoing effort to turn personal hardship into positive policy. Of her 29 co-sponsors, seven are Republicans, including four who voted against certifying Joe Biden’s victory after the 2021 attack on the Capitol.

• The first anniversary of the attack served as a reflection point, she said. She saw the throughline from her great-great-great-grandfather’s voting card, to the Capitol attack, to her husband’s death. “I decided I’m recommitting to this work. I’m recommitting to this democracy. Instead of leaning back, instead of shrinking away, I’m going to lean in. I’m going to lean forward,” she said.

• She’s ready to bring this spirit to a Senate that has atrophied over the last decade, with fewer legislative debates and less bipartisan outreach. She hopes she can help restart its engines.