| Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester represents Delaware in the U.S. Senate. She was elected in 2024 after serving four terms as Delaware's sole representative in the U.S. House of Representatives. In the House, she served on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, which oversees health care, the environment, commerce and trade, energy policy, telecommunications, manufacturing, and consumer protection.
Senator Blunt Rochester is a leading voice in Congress on workforce issues, the future of work, and building an economy that works for everyone. As former Secretary of Labor and State Personnel Director, she leverages her expertise to advocate for policies that support growth and ensure working families earn a living wage. She founded and co-chaired the bipartisan Congressional Future of Work Caucus in the House. After seeing the impact of empty grocery shelves during the pandemic, she also led the charge in Congress to address the supply chain crisis and bring manufacturing jobs back to Delaware and the United States.
As a former statewide health official, Senator Blunt Rochester brings a broad perspective on health care policy. She has worked as an implementer at the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services, a negotiator as State Personnel Director, and an advocate as CEO of the Metropolitan Wilmington Urban League.
She has been committed to reducing health care and prescription drug costs for middle-class families, addressing health disparities in communities of color, and combating the opioid and addiction epidemic. When the Heroin epidemic devastated Delaware communities, she acted urgently and became a member of the Bipartisan Heroin and Opioid Task Force, a coalition of over 100 members dedicated to passing critical legislation to combat opioid addiction. Additionally, Senator Blunt Rochester has played a pivotal role in passing landmark legislation like the Inflation Reduction Act and the Telehealth Modernization Act - which both work to lower the cost of prescription drugs and increase access to healthcare for America's seniors and those with disabilities.
A strong advocate for the nursing workforce, she championed the passage of the TRAIN Act, which protected a key nursing education pipeline to address the nursing shortage. Throughout her career, she has fought for underserved communities and is a leader on public health promotion and programs that help Americans live healthier and longer.
In the 115th Congress, Senator Blunt Rochester became the first Delawarean in over 120 years to serve on the House Committee on Agriculture. She played a key role in crafting the 2018 Farm Bill, a five-year reauthorization that supports the farm safety net, nutrition programs for vulnerable populations, land-grant universities, and agricultural research. A champion of criminal justice reform, she introduced the groundbreaking Clean Slate Act, which seals the federal records of nonviolent offenders. This legislation aims to provide individuals with opportunities to secure good-paying jobs, pursue education, and access housing after reentering society. Research uncovered by the Center for American Progress estimates individuals who are shut out of opportunities because of their criminal records costs the U.S. economy up to $87 billion annually. The Clean Slate Act would help boost the national economy while helping these individuals gain good paying jobs.
After hearing concerns from homeowners in North Bethany Beach about an error in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's coastal mapping, Senator Blunt Rochester introduced the Strengthening Coastal Communities Act in her first term, which corrected the error, supported environmental preservation, and became her first bill enacted into law. She has since spearheaded the SHORRE Act to improve coastal resilience up and down Delaware's coastlines, so communities and homeowners are protected from rising seas and extreme weather. She authored legislation that invested $100 million to decarbonize the Port of Wilmington. This federal investment came as part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Ports Program in the Inflation Reduction Act, legislation passed by Congress and signed into law by President Biden in 2022. And in 2024, she co-led the bipartisan Bolstering Ecosystems Against Coastal Harm Act (BEACH Act). This legislation addresses climate-driven risks like flooding, storm surges, and sea level rise by amending and reauthorizing the Coastal Barrier Resources Act (CBRA) and updating critical coastal maps.
Born and raised in Wilmington, Senator Blunt Rochester graduated from Padua Academy. She earned a degree in International Relations from Fairleigh Dickinson University and, as a working mother, completed her master's degree in Urban Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Delaware. She resides in Wilmington, Delaware. She is the proud mother of two adult children, Alex and Alyssa, and mother-in-law to Ebony. She is also the grandmother of her first granddaughter, Lennox. |