POLITICAL COMMENTARY: Who is Senator Cory Booker?

(by decorahnews.com's Ben Gardner):

Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey will speak at 4:30 p.m. Sunday at The Lingonberry at 218 West Water Street in Decorah. (Doors open at 4:00 p.m.) Iowa State Auditor Rob Sand will accompany Booker during the event.

Booker—the former mayor Newark, New Jersey—has served as junior U.S. Senator from New Jersey since 2013. He announced his campaign for the Democratic nomination for President in February.

Booker has been unable to nab double digits in national or state polls, nevertheless, he has a large group of paid staffers in Iowa and his campaign organizations in Iowa and New Hampshire have been praised for their grassroots approach.

At the end of September, Booker made a fundraising goal to raise $1.7 million in the final ten days of September. With Iowa's caucus four months away, Democratic presidential candidates are concentrating their campaign efforts and dipping into their monetary reserves. The $1.7 million was essential to Booker staying in the race. The campaign reached the goal, with a total of $6 million raised in the last three months.

Many of Booker's supporters resonate with his ideals of unity, justice, and his desire to excite the "moral imagination" of the country's constituency. On the campaign trail, he often invokes the ideals of empathy, collective action, and common purpose. Among his supporters, Booker's optimist rhetoric about social justice and collective purpose is resonating with many Democrats looking for a decisive and empathetic counter-approach to President's Trump's often provocative rhetoric.

Central to Booker's campaign narrative is his approach to social justice and inequality. It informs his "baby bonds" proposal, as well as how he confronts affordable housing, gun control, the criminal justice system, and education.

In the senate, Booker has been a vocal critic of President Trump and his cabinet. And he has criticized former Vice President Joe Biden for his support of the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act. In 2018, Booker co-sponsored a bi-partisan crime bill signed by President Trump. Of the Democratic candidates, he's the most vocal advocate for fundamental criminal justice reform.

Stay tuned to decoahnews.com for an exclusive interview with Senator Cory Booker and decorahnews.com's Ben Gardner following the senator's event Sunday.