New Jersey Senator Cory Booker is joining the 2020 Democratic presidential contest, announcing his campaign on Friday with a tweet and an emailed video to supporters.
“We are better when we help each other,” he said. “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 second African American candidate to join the fray, following California Sen. Kamala Harris’ entry last week, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Booker’s announcement also carries symbolism, coming on the first day of Black History Month. Booker, who speaks fluent Spanish, plans to call into radio stations with black and Latino audiences Friday morning to discuss his campaign.
Booker who has mixed reviews mostly because of his ties to Big Pharma in December of 2018 amidst much speculation came out as “straight”.
I’ve talked to a lot of people who worked for Obama at the grassroots level. One of them said to me, ‘Never again. I will never be fooled again by a politician,’ ” Damon says, his disappointment ringing with a now-familiar tone of wounded idealism. “You know, a one-term president with some balls who actually got stuff done would have been, in the long run of the country, much better.” Damon gestures in the direction, just out of sight over the tree line, of the sign-wielding picketers (Occupy Vancover) who are beginning to gather steam. “If the Democrats think that they didn’t have a mandate—people are literally without any focus or leadership, just wandering out into the streets to yell right now because they are so pissed off,” he says. “Imagine if they had a leader.”