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John Charles Carney Jr. (born May 20, 1956) is an American politician who is the 74th and current Governor of Delaware since January 2017. He is a member of the Democratic Party, and served as the U.S. Representative for Delaware’s at-large congressional district from 2011 to 2017 prior to his governorship. Carney was also the 24th Lieutenant Governor of Delaware from 2001 to 2009 and served as Delaware’s Secretary of Finance. He first unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for Governor of Delaware in 2008, losing to Jack Markell. He ran for Governor of Delaware again in 2016 and won to succeed Markell, who was term-limited.

Carney was born in Wilmington, Delaware, the second of nine children born to Ann Marie (nee Buckley) and John Charles “Jack” Carney Sr (1925-2014). His great-grandparents immigrated from Ireland. Carney was quarterback of the 1973 state championship St. Mark’s High School football team, and earned All-Ivy League and Most Valuable Player honors in football at Dartmouth College, from which he graduated in 1978. While a student at Dartmouth, he joined the local Beta Alpha Omega fraternity. He later coached freshman football at the University of Delaware, while earning his master’s degree in public administration.

Carney has served as Deputy Chief Administrative Officer of New Castle County and as Secretary of Finance and Deputy Chief of Staff for Governor Tom Carper.

He was first elected Lieutenant Governor of Delaware in 2000 and served from January 16, 2001 until January 20, 2009.

As Lieutenant Governor Carney presided over the Delaware State Senate and chaired the Board of Pardons. He was chairman of the Delaware Health Care Commission, the Interagency Council on Adult Literacy, the Criminal Justice Council, the Center for Education Technology, and the Livable Delaware Advisory Council. In 2002 he launched the education initiative “Models of Excellence in Education” to identify practices in schools that have raised student achievement. Carney was also selected by other Lieutenant Governors as chairman of the National Lieutenant Governors Association from July 2004 to July 2005.

Carney has long been an advocate for wellness issues in Delaware, sponsoring “BeHealthy Delaware” and “The Lt. Governor’s Challenge” to encourage Delawareans to be more active and address the State’s high rate of chronic diseases. He fought for Delaware’s public smoking ban to improve health, cut cancer rates, and discourage teens from starting to smoke.

After completing his tenure as lieutenant governor in 2009, Carney served as president and chief operating officer of Transformative Technologies, which is investing in the DelaWind project, to bring offshore wind turbine construction to Delaware. He planned to step down in early 2010 to concentrate on his U.S. House campaign.

Carney sought the Democratic nomination for the office of governor in 2008, as incumbent Governor Ruth Ann Minner was constitutionally barred from seeking a third term. However, despite the backing of most of the party establishment, Carney lost the Democratic primary by fewer than two thousand votes in a close race to State Treasurer Jack Markell, who went on to win the general election.

Carney once again sought the Democratic nomination for the office of governor in 2016, as incumbent Governor Jack Markell was constitutionally barred from seeking a third term. Carney won the Democratic primary unopposed and went on to win the general election.

On July 12, 2017, following his signing of Executive Order 11 to reestablish the Juvenile Justice Advisory Group, Carney said, “The Juvenile Justice Advisory Group will help us create an environment where all Delaware kids have an opportunity to succeed. This Executive Order will recharge and reenergize the group to find solutions that will work.” July 20, Carney vetoed a Delaware House of Representatives bill removing the five-mile radius of Delaware charter schools with enrollment preference and keeping out students in Wilmington, charging it with negatively impacting “some of our most vulnerable students.”

On October 13, 2017, in response to President Donald Trump ending cost-sharing reductions within the American health care system, Carney asserted the choice would lead to “more people being uninsured in our state, which eventually means increased premiums for all of us” and pledged he would work with the state congressional delegation to return the cost-sharing reductions.

Elections are held the first Tuesday after November 1. The Lieutenant Governor takes office the third Tuesday of January with a four-year term. U.S. Representatives take office January 3 and have a two-year term.

Carney and his wife, Tracey, have two children, Sam and Jimmy. They attended Wilmington Friends School. Sam is a Financial Management major at Clemson University. Jimmy is a Computer Science major at Tufts University. In 2015 Sam Carney was named as one of a number of defendants in two separate lawsuits filed by the parents of Tucker Hipps, whose 2014 death allegedly occurred during a fraternity hazing incident. The lawsuit was settled in July 2017.