Carper pleaded to fellow Senate Democrats to help push the bills forward and start the debate on trade. | John Shinkle/POLITICO The one Democrat who voted with GOP on trade

Only one Senate Democrat on Tuesday helped advance trade legislation pushed by President Barack Obama: Tom Carper of Delaware.

The pro-trade senator was the only Democrat who voted with nearly all Republicans to proceed to the so-called fast-track measure that would allow Obama to submit trade deals to Congress for approval without amendments. The vote was 52-45, and it needed 60 to advance.


The mild-mannered Carper wasn’t shy about his willingness to buck his party on Tuesday’s procedural vote. Earlier Tuesday, Carper held a press conference with Texas Sen. John Cornyn, the second-ranking Senate Republican and business groups on the need to pass a trade promotion authority bill.

In a floor speech on Tuesday morning, Carper urged fellow Senate Democrats to help push the bills forward and start the debate on trade.

“The goal of this trade agreement is to open up these other markets in other countries so we can sell our goods, our products and our services there,” Carper said. “This is a top priority for this administration and this should be a top priority for Democrats and Republicans and a priority that’s hammered out, and compromises that are hammered out that are fair to workers and middle-class families.”

Carper has stood alone on other votes in the past. In March, he was the sole senator in the chamber — Democrat or Republican — to cast a vote in favor of Obama’s budget proposal.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky was the only Republican to vote against cloture, but that was solely a procedural move that allows him to bring up the legislation again. Three senators were missing from Tuesday’s vote: Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), and Republican Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.