DOVER, Del. (AP) -- The U.S. Senate race in Delaware carries the potential of a historic first for residents and their congressional delegation in Washington.
U.S. Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, a Democrat, faces Republican Eric Hansen and independent Michael Katz in Tuesday's Senate contest.
Should Blunt Rochester win, she would become the first woman and first Black person to represent Delaware in the Senate. Only three other Black women have served in the Senate, two of whom were elected and one who was appointed.
Blunt Rochester is the presumptive favorite in the Senate race, given her name recognition and voter registration numbers that favor Democrats in solid-blue Delaware, which last sent a Republican to Washington in 2008. Her campaign coffers also dwarf Hansen's. Blunt Rochester reported raising more than $9 million for her Senate campaign as of mid-October, while Hansen reported receipts of slightly more than $1 million, including more than $800,000 in loans he made to his campaign.
Katz, a physician who served one term in the Delaware state Senate, has refused to accept outside campaign donations.
The candidates are vying to fill the seat left vacant by Democrat Tom Carper. Carper, who was elected to the Senate in 2000, encouraged and endorsed Blunt Rochester to be his successor when he announced his retirement last year. Blunt Rochester interned for Carper when he was in the House and also served in his cabinet when he was governor.
Blunt Rochester has served four terms as Delaware's lone representative in the House. According to the Congressional Record, she has sponsored 90 bills and seven resolutions during her tenure, many aimed at improving or expanding access to health care, especially for women and minorities. The only measure sponsored by Blunt Rochester to become law is a resolution naming a Wilmington post office in honor of Mary Ann Shadd Cary, a 19th-century anti-slavery activist and publisher.
Blunt Rochester began her political career as a case worker for Carper and served in appointed positions as Delaware's labor secretary, state personnel director and deputy secretary of Delaware's Department of Health and Social Services. She also has served as CEO of the Metropolitan Wilmington Urban League.
Hansen, a political newcomer, is a former Wal-Mart executive and self-described "nonpolitician." He has said his goals as a senator include balancing the budget and gradually reducing the size of government through attrition and improved efficiency. Hansen also has called for term limits in Congress.
Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday.