Cory Booker Speech: New Jersey Senator Steals Show On First Night Of DNC, Has Fans Dreaming Of A Potential 2024 Presidential Run

Cory Booker gave a rousing Democratic National Convention speech that had political supporters invoking memories of 2004 dreaming about 2024.

Though the New Jersey Senator was on the undercard of the convention’s first night that included speeches from Michelle Obama and Bernie Sanders, by the end of the night it was Booker’s speech based on the Maya Angelou poem “Still I Rise” that had stolen all the attention and got fans excited for what could be Booker’s eventual presidential run.

The speech was equal parts a stinging criticism of Donald Trump and an uplifting message about the potential for America’s success, invoking his own rise in New Jersey.

“Now, I take particular interest in the fact that Trump says he would run our country like he has run his businesses. Well, I’m from Jersey. I’m from the great Garden State, and we’ve seen the way he leads in Atlantic City. He got rich while his companies declared multiple bankruptcies,” Booker said (via ABC News).

Like many others, Booker painted the race between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump as a pivotal moment when American voters would choose which path the nation follows, one of “inclusion or exclusion.”

“This platform is a clear choice between economic pathways,” he said. “Forward or back, inclusion or exclusion — grow together as a nation or be a country of savage disparities that favor the fortunate few over the greatest driving force of any economy: a large and robust middle class.”

Booker also touched on the theme of income inequality, which CNN noted was a strong point among the movement started by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.

The speech came a few weeks after Cory Booker’s name was floated as a potential vice presidential pick beside Hillary Clinton. Though Clinton ultimately went with Virginia Senator Tim Kaine — arguably a more strategic pick, as Virginia’s Democratic governor could replace Kaine’s spot in the Senate with another Democrat, while New Jersey Governor Chris Christie would pick a Republican to replace Booker — it is clear that Booker’s star is on the rise.

Cory Booker’s DNC speech was his introduction to the national scene for many Americans, and the speech had a lot of people thinking that Booker himself is poised for a White House run one day.

He was so AWESOME!!—>@CoryBooker whipped the DNC into a frenzy: 'We will rise!' #DemsInPhilly https://t.co/UQqOE7Gh0B

— Gina (@redhed67) July 26, 2016

Booker’s DNC speech was a hit online as well, with his name among the top trending terms on Twitter and generating even more attention than speeches from Bernie Sanders, Michelle Obama, and Elizabeth Warren.

To many viewers, Booker’s rousing DNC speech invoked memories of 2004, when it was a different young black Senator (or Senator-to-be, in the previous case) who ended up stealing the spotlight and setting up his own presidential run. Barack Obama was still an Illinois state Senator when he delivered his now-famous address to the Democratic National Convention in 2004, but his speech vaulted him into the national spotlight and set up what would be his run for the presidency four years later.

Both Booker and Obama invoked high rhetoric to speak of America’s potential and called on Americans to move past the political labels that can keep them divided. And both speeches had many dreaming about the future of the Democratic Party during an election cycle in which one of the more unpopular party titans was leading the presidential ticket — John Kerry in 2004 and Hillary Clinton this year.

The same qualifiers apply to Obama in 2004 and Booker this year, however. Obama at the time was recognized by party insiders as a rising star, but at that point still had a Senate race to win and many believed he was still a few cycles away from a presidential run. Obama instead decided to run in 2008, and pulled off one of the biggest upsets in recent political history when he unseated Hillary Clinton to win the Democratic nomination and ultimately a two-term presidency.

The DNC speech made it clear — Cory Booker is perhaps the biggest rising star in the Democratic Party, one likely poised for his own presidential run in short time.

[Photo by Matt Rourke/AP Images]