Republican Michael N. Castle, a fixture in Delaware politics for a half-century who previously served as governor and a member of Congress, died Thursday at age 86.

“During his time as governor, Mike Castle visited every single school in our state, including mine, where he spoke to my high school class with the same warmth, humility, and commitment to public service that defined his career,” Delaware Gov. Matt Meyer, a Democrat, said in a statement directing that flags be lowered to honor Castle. “That moment, among others, demonstrated what a good man he was and how deeply he cared about Delaware’s future.”

Castle served as governor for two terms before being elected to the House in 1992, where he went on to serve nine terms. In 2010, he entered the Republican primary for a special Senate election to fill the remainder of Joe Biden’s term after Biden became vice president. But amid the anti-establishment “tea party” fervor in the Republican Party at the time, the moderate Castle lost the primary to Christine O’Donnell, who proved to be an unsuccessful general election candidate, with a campaign ad proclaiming that she was “not a witch.” Democratic Sen. Chris Coons won the general election and continues to hold the seat.

“Over the arc of the more than 40 years that I knew him — I met him when I was 16 — he repeatedly provided his knowledge and expertise to help me along my own way,” Coons said in a statement. “When he was a congressman and I was county executive, we worked together often, including some important investments into the C&D Canal greenway. When we eventually ran against each other, I did my absolute best to run a respectful, positive, policy-based campaign.”

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