Another Big Name Joins 2020 Race

New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker is latest Democrat to enter
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 1, 2019 6:51 AM CST
Another Big Name Joins 2020 Race
In this Oct. 28, 2018, file photo, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., looks up as he takes a selfie with a supporter at the University of New Hampshire in Durham, N.H.   (AP Photo/ Cheryl Senter, File)

Cory Booker is in. The New Jersey senator on Friday became the latest Democrat to enter the 2020 presidential race, reports Politico. He is the second African-American to throw a hat into the ring, behind Sen. Kamala Harris, as well as the fourth senator to either officially announce or to at least explore a run: Elizabeth Warren and Kirsten Gillibrand are the others. The AP thinks five more Democratic senators could enter the fray as well. Need a quick bio? NJ.com has one in video form. Booker is 49, unmarried, and first rose to national prominence as the mayor of Newark, his state's largest city. In 2013, he won a special election to replace Frank Lautenberg in the Senate, then won a full term of his own the following year.

"We are better when we help each other," Booker says in his launch announcement. "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." NPR sees that as Booker stressing a theme of unity to counter what he views as the divisive politics of President Trump. (Booker made headlines during the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation hearings.)

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