Cory Booker, Democratic senator from New Jersey and 2020 presidential hopeful, stopped to chat with Daily Kos Trending News Editor Jessica Sutherland about what he hopes to bring to the country—and especially women of color—as president.
To cover some basics, Booker is a co-sponsor of both the Green New Deal and Medicare for All. He’s vowed not to take money from corporate lobbyists or federal PACs. He’s serious about a woman running mate for 2020. In the past, he’s played football for Standford and became a Rhodes scholar.
Today, if one thing is for certain, he’s passionate about serving the community he resides in. “I know, living in a community of color, that environmental justice is a health care issue,” Booker explained to Sutherland in an in-person interview on April 24. “I know, living in a community of color, that gun violence is a public health issue. I know, living in a community of color, that poverty is a community health issue.”
With that in mind, let’s look at some background about him, including his policy ideas, and see what he believes he can bring to the nation, and especially marginalized and minority communities, in his own words.
1. He’s known as a local hero around Newark
When Booker was the mayor of Newark, New Jersey, he became known around town as a bit of a hero. He quite literally saved a woman from a burning building, delivered diapers during a snow storm, and saved two dogs from freezing weather.
2. He wants to legalize cannabis
A lot of people support legalizing marijuana via the argument that it’s no more harmful or dangerous than alcohol. Others think that legalization is a great way for states to make money through taxes. Booker, who introduced the Marijuana Justice Act, alongside Rep. Baraba Lee, wants to not only legalize cannabis but help those who have prior convictions.
The bill would remove marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act. Beyond that, it would take federal money from states that ban marijuana if these laws aren’t enforced fairly along socioeconomic and racial lines. It would also expunge the criminal records of people who have faced marijuana-related charges. Lastly, $500 million per year would be put aside in order to help communities that have been unfairly targeted (again, probably along class and race lines).
3. He’s serious about restoring voting rights
Booker’s interest in criminal justice reform isn’t limited only to cannabis. “My focus is tearing down the system of mass incarceration so that we don’t even have to have the debate about people’s voting rights because they’re not going to prison in the first place,” the senator said in an interview with PBS NewsHour. Given that over 6 million Americans couldn’t vote in the 2016 presidential election because of felony convictions, this is a huge deal.
4. He’s a vegan
According to U.S. News & World Report, Booker became a vegetarian way back in 1992. From there, he transitioned to a vegan diet in 2014. This would make him the first vegan president; while former President Bill Clinton is a vegan now, that change happened after he left office.
Why is Booker a vegan? In an interview with the Daily Beast, he explained, "I want to try to live my own values as consciously and purposefully as I can. Being vegan for me is a cleaner way of not participating in practices that don't align with my values."
5. He’s passionate about living in the community that he serves
“I have remained living in a black and brown, low-income community—the only person in the
Senate that lives in a neighborhood like mine,” Booker explained to Sutherland. “That is a beautiful neighborhood, a strong neighborhood, but struggles in the injustices of our time. It's below the poverty line, even though people work full-time jobs. And has environmental outrages, like kids drinking from bottled water, because there's lead in our water, and the scourge of gun violence. “
While Booker (obviously) spends time in Washington, D.C., and on the campaign trail, he does reside in a community where more than half of his neighborhood lives below the poverty line.
“These are the communities, these are the issues that drove me into politics. And these are the things that I will be fighting for as president of the United States,” Booker continued. “So if you want to know a person who is literally rooted in, came up through communities where women of color dominated, were the majority of my city, they should know that that's how I came up, and that's where my connections lie.”
Want to read more about other Democrats running for the nomination? Read up on Julián Castro or Senator Kirsten Gillibrand next.