U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, From Harrington Park, Jumps Into 2020 Election

U.S. Sen. Cory Booker at Northern Valley-Old Tappan in 2014. | File photo/Murray Bass

BY MICHAEL OLOHAN
OF NORTHERN VALLEY PRESS

Harrington Park native and U.S. Sen. Cory Booker declared his candidacy for U.S. president on Feb. 1 in Newark, joining a crowded field of candidates vying for the nomination to oppose incumbent Republican President Donald Trump in 2020.

Booker, who was elected U.S. senator in 2013 replacing Frank Lautenberg, had been widely expected to become a candidate. Before being elected senator, Booker served for seven years as mayor of Newark and four years on the Newark City Council.

‘People come together’

“I know that the only way we can make change is when people come together,” says Booker in a YouTube video released Feb. 1, the day he announced his candidacy for president.

In the video, Booker does not name Harrington Park but refers indirectly to the racism encountered by his African-American parents when they tried to move into an all-white neighborhood in 1969.

“When I was a baby my parents tried to move us into a neighborhood with great public schools but realtors wouldn’t sell us a home because of the color of our skin,” says Booker.

He notes “a group of white lawyers” who were inspired by civil rights leaders to help African-American families “and they changed the course of my entire life,” he notes.

Booker tells viewers that over two decades ago he moved into Newark’s Central Ward “to fight slumlords and help families stay in their homes” and he still lives in Newark.

“I’m the only senator that goes home to a low-income, inner-city community, the first community that took a chance on me,” he says.

Booker held a press conference in Newark on Feb. 1 after announcing his candidacy earlier that morning via tweet, email, and online video.

U.S. Sen. Cory Booker speaks to an audience at Northern Valley Regional High School at Old Tappan in 2014, his alma mater, where he was a noted Class of 1987 student and athlete. | File photo by Murray Bass

‘Feel pride, not shame’

“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,” he says in the video.

“It is not a matter of ‘can we,’ it’s a matter of do we have the collective will, the American will? I believe we do. Together, we will channel our common pain back into our common purpose,” he adds.

Booker, 49, recently opposed the approval of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh—who was eventually sworn in—and has consistently voted against Trump since Trump took office in 2017.

Across party lines

Since becoming a U.S. senator in 2013, Booker has maintained a high profile and been recognized for working across party lines, including passage of a criminal justice overhaul that offers alternatives to incarceration for non-violent drug offenders, signed into law by Trump in December 2018.

Recently in October, Booker attended a remembrance for the 11 victims of the Oct. 27 Pittsburgh synagogue massacre held at Kaplen JCC on the Palisades in Tenafly.

He told about 1,000 mourners that evil incidents “do not define us but what defines us is how we respond and tell our truth.”

Nearly 1,000 people joined faith and civic leaders at the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades to mourn for the victims and to show solidarity in response to the Tree of Life synagogue massacre in Pittsburgh. U.S. Sen. Booker sits, front row, sixth from left. | Photo courtesy Kaplen JCC.

‘Blame does not heal’

“There is evil in disunity. I worry now in this country that in a time of grief and pain the response is to lift our hands and point fingers of blame at other Americans…but blame does not heal,” said Booker.

He called on attendees at the vigil to oppose anti-Semitism and racism in all forms.

“The road to hell is paved with bystanders…our story is overcoming hate, our story is overcoming violence. Our story is when black children were being discriminated, Jewish children got on buses for freedom rides because they knew that your justice is my business,” Booker said.

Several times the audience rose to applaud Booker’s passionate comments.

Booker is a 1987 graduate of Northern Valley Regional High School-Old Tappan, where he played football. He graduated from Stanford University, which he attended after winning a football scholarship. He is also a Yale Law School graduate.

He touches on what a difference moving to Harrington Park made briefly in the video.

In 2013 before his election to the Senate, Booker was in Harrington Park and reflected on the role of the borough in his life.

“In so many ways, I am who I am because of Harrington Park and Old Tappan, Northern Valley Regional High School,” Booker said at a campaign event, according to published reports.

‘Always be home’

He said then of Harrington Park: “From the time that I was a little kid, this is the community that embraced me and my family.”

“This will always, always, always, be home,” he added.

Although Booker joins a growing group of Democratic hopefuls, other possible entrants yet to declare include former Vice President Joe Biden, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, and at least a half-dozen more actively considering entering the race.

A law signed by Gov. Phil Murphy in November allows Booker to run for reelection to the Senate in 2020 as well as for president.