Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call
Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call(WASHINGTON) — Sen. Cory Booker officially joined the crowded field of Democratic presidential primary hopefuls Friday morning, the latest step in a near-decade-long journey toward an anticipated campaign to be the second African-American U.S. president.
Booker’s announcement arrived in a video outlining a theme of unity and togetherness, describing an optimistic vision of what could be accomplished through “courage” and “collective action.”
“I believe that we can build a country where no one is forgotten, no one is left behind; where parents can put food on the table; where there are good-paying jobs with good benefits in every neighborhood; where our criminal justice system keeps us safe, instead of shuffling more children into cages and coffins; where we see the faces of our leaders on television and feel pride, not shame,” said Booker, after describing his upbringing.
“It is not a matter of ‘can we,’ it’s a matter of ‘do we have’ the collective will, the American will? I believe we do,” he said. “Together, we will channel our common pain back into our common purpose. Together, America, we will rise.”
The launch of Booker’s campaign on Feb. 1, the first day of Black History Month, appears not to be a coincidence, particularly after Sen. Kamala Harris’ similar commencement of her presidential run on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. In addition to Harris, D-Calif., Booker joins Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y. — with whom Booker is close personal friends — as members of the Senate seeking the Democratic nomination. At least five other Democrats have also declared.
Though he has visited several early-voting states in recent months, including a trip less than two weeks ago to South Carolina for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Booker continued to publicly downplay the assumption he’d arrived at a final decision.
During a trip to Georgia in January, former President Jimmy Carter told Booker he hoped he runs for president, a moment captured by the senator on his Instagram story, in which he thanked Carter and said, “You encouraging me means more to me than you can imagine.”
Booker’s announcement comes after more than five years in the Senate, which followed seven as mayor of Newark, New Jersey, where he first vaulted to national attention for his youth and hands-on approach in attempting to turn around the crime- and poverty-plagued city.
Prior to Barack Obama’s election in 2008, some in the Garden State familiar with the ambitious mayor’s work, which included frequent ride-alongs with the city’s law enforcement and, later, a high-profile education partnership with Facebook, openly mused about Booker’s becoming the country’s first black president.
Since arriving in Washington, Booker has attracted attention for his leadership during the bipartisan effort to pass criminal justice reform and for his pointed questioning during Senate Judiciary Committee hearings. That includes what he described as his “Spartacus moment” during Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation hearings last fall. Later mocked by Republicans for grandstanding, the senator exposed himself to punishment by releasing confidential documents.
Booker’s campaign officially will begin next weekend with stops in Iowa on Feb. 8-9, followed by a visit to South Carolina on Feb. 10-11 and a trip to New Hampshire over President’s Day weekend, according to a campaign aide.
Booker will reject donations from corporate political action committees, his campaign said, similar to Gillibrand, Harris, Warren, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, and former Rep. John Delaney.
After a number of radio interviews Friday morning, Booker is slated to appear on ABC’s The View at 11 a.m. EST in his first television interview following his announcement.
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