Another Democratic Senator has thrown his hat into the ring for the race to be president, as Cory Booker became the latest to announce his candidacy yesterday.
Booker, who is a New Jersey Senator, confirmed his plans to run for president yesterday in a video message posted on his Twitter account, as NPR reported. In the statement, Booker issued a unifying rallying cry.
“We are better when we help each other. 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.”
Although Booker appeared to be making some references to President Donald Trump and his immigration policies, the Democratic senator emphasized that he is determined to run on a platform of unifying what he sees as a deeply divided country.
Booker is expected to make a series of prominent media appearances today to launch his campaign. Appearances on The Tom Joyner Morning Show, ABC’s The View, and Univision’s Despierta America are all believed to have been scheduled.
I’m running for president. Join me on this journey. https://t.co/fEDqOVIfwh pic.twitter.com/h1FTPUYRzo
— Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) February 1, 2019
Cory Booker was first elected to the Senate in 2013 in a special election. Prior to that he was mayor of Newark and has long been tipped as a likely presidential candidate. This view was backed up by his decision in 2017 to join the high-profile Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Booker also made a number of trips to early primary voting states such as Iowa and New Hampshire during the midterm elections last year. These visits were ostensibly to raise money and campaign for the local candidates there, but his focus on these particular states appear to have raised a few eyebrows.
Furthermore, Booker was an early advocate of social media as a politician and during his time as mayor of Newark, he managed to attract a nationwide following on Twitter. His direct involvement with those he represents has also always gone down well with people. On one occasion, after spotting a tweet from someone looking for a person to help his elderly father shovel his driveway, Booker arrived at the house and did the work himself.
He is also seen as a hero by many after once running into a burning building to save a woman’s life, sustaining burns and smoke inhalation in the process. He has brought a similarly robust style to his politics in the Senate and, in what promises to be a competitive Democrat race, Booker might just offer something different.