Cory Booker is joining the increasingly-crowded field of Democrats vying for the presidency in 2020.
The New Jersey Democrat sent an email to supporters on Friday, February 1, 2019 morning announcing his intentions to run for the White House. It included a video and a message emphasizing a unifying, uplifting approach that seems intended as a rhetorical contrast to others in the field.
“We are better when we help each other,” Booker says. “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.”
Booker is the fourth Senate Democrats to effectively begin a presidential run. But unlike some of his colleagues, who have announced exploratory committees, Booker is bypassing that step and formally starting his campaign.
His committee, “Cory 2020,” will mirror those of his competitors in rejecting contributions from corporate PACs and federal lobbyists. Booker’s aides say he will oppose Political Action Committees supporting his candidacy, though he’s legally prohibited from preventing a PAC from doing so. Already, a San Francisco-based Democratic donor has formed a pro-Booker PAC and pledged to raise $10 million on his behalf.
A 49-year-old long-serving public official, Booker will be the second African-American senator in the presidential race, alongside his colleague Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA). His launch, an aide said, was timed, in part, to coincide with the first day of Black History Month. And among the first media appearances Booker will make after declaring on Friday will be appearances on two radio programs with massive African-American audiences: the Tom Joyner Morning Show and The Black Eagle with Joe Madison.
Booker, who had already made the rounds in early primary states and has been courting staff for quite some time, will also appear on “The View” on Friday, with his mother, Carolyn Booker, a Las Vegas native, expected to be in attendance. The Senator is also slated to travel to Iowa next weekend, followed immediately by South Carolina and then New Hampshire during President’s Day weekend.
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