Originally posted in Rutgers Today
Marla Blunt-Carter’s emotions seesawed on election night. She is a longtime campaign advisor to her sister, Lisa Blunt Rochester, who was about to make history as Delaware’s first Black U.S. senator and one of two African American women poised to serve at the same time in the upper chamber. Yet elation was tinged with sorrow – it was their first election without their father, who had inspired their commitment to public service. And then came the sting of a crushing loss at the top of the Democratic ticket.
“Her victory brought immense joy to all of us, and the moment was also bittersweet as we deeply felt my father’s absence,” said Blunt-Carter, an associate professor of professional practice at Rutgers School of Social Work. “We felt heaviness in the moment, but also hope.”
Democrats Blunt Rochester and Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland are the third and fourth Black women ever elected to the U.S. Senate. “To be able to see what is possible is inspiring,” Blunt-Carter said.
Though too long in coming, having two Black women serve the Senate at the same time is significant, said Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for Women in American Politics at Rutgers.
“It is substantively important because they will bring important and missing perspectives to the Senate, but it is also symbolically important to Black women and girls who will, for the first time, see two members of the Senate who look like them. It sends a powerful message of what is possible,” Walsh said.
The victories offered them solace amid the disappointment over Kamala Harris’s loss to Donald Trump. Blunt Rochester, first elected to the House in 2016, enters the Senate ready to meet the challenges ahead.
“My sister understands her assignment. She’s not mad, she’s motivated,” Blunt-Carter said. “She is a consensus-builder willing to work across the aisle.”
Blunt-Carter said she’s glad the freshmen senators will have each other to lean on. She will remain her sister’s personal advisor in the Senate and has been helping to hire staff.
Blunt-Carter’s roles as political social worker, campaign advisor and social work professor inform one another, she said. Her political experiences serve as case studies in the classroom. “I’m training future social workers to engage in community empowerment,” she said.
A stroke in 2019 reminded Blunt-Carter of life’s fragility. “I want to do as much as I can while I can,” she said.
Blunt-Carter was 9 years old when she participated in her first campaign, joining her dad as he knocked on doors and attended community meetings in Wilmington. “It was the first time I felt empowered to do something important,” she said.
At 17, Blunt-Carter worked on her father’s successful 1984 campaign to become a Wilmington councilman. Ted Blunt served 16 years as councilman and another eight as council president while working as a school district administrator. He died in January at age 80.
She strove to emulate her father but hit a bump. Blunt-Carter attended Winston-Salem State University, her father’s alma mater, and was elected student body president her senior year. But she became overwhelmed and dropped out.
On a whim, she became a flight attendant for Piedmont Airlines. A few years into the job, Blunt-Carter met the American poet Maya Angelou. Angelou “took my hand and asked,‘Why are you here? Your light is too bright to be on this plane,’” Blunt-Carter recalled. “She saw me running from what I thought was my failure. She pierced that shame.”
While continuing to work, Blunt-Carter completed her undergraduate degree in political science at the University of Delaware and then enrolled at Rutgers School of Social Work for a Master of Social Work, just as her father had.
Soon she was working for then-Sen. Joseph Biden’s district office as project manager and then director of constituent services. While most other applicants were young lawyers, Blunt-Carter brought a social worker’s perspective. “I know the issues, the stories of the community, and because of that, the constituent voice can honestly be represented in the room,” she said.
Blunt-Carter became Delaware’s state director for the Obama campaign – “one of the biggest honors of my life,” she said. After holding other directorships in government and other organizations, Blunt-Carter joined Rutgers-Camden a decade ago.
“My most important work is teaching social work students how to be impactful agents of societal change,” Blunt-Carter said. She recently won Rutgers University’s Torchbearer Award, honoring leaders who promote diversity, inclusion, equity, and access at the university.
Blunt-Carter serves on the White House advisory commission on advancing educational equity, excellence and economic opportunity for Black Americans, which presented its recommendations to President Biden on Dec. 11. She has participated in other White House forums, including one on improving early education and childcare, and long-term care for older adults and people with disabilities. These opportunities “give me a voice in shaping national conversations,” she said.
“Encouraging civic participation and involvement in electoral processes is key to fostering the next generation of social work leaders who can create lasting change in communities,” she said.
Blunt-Carter has never desired to run for political office. “My passion lies in empowering others to lead,” she said. “I can influence the lives of so many more people.”
Marla Blunt-Carter, an associate professor of professional practice at Rutgers School of Social Work, received the Torchbearer Award, which honors leaders in promoting diversity, inclusion, equity, and access at Rutgers through their academic research, teaching, community engagement, and/or workplace engagement, program development, and leadership.
