Cory Booker

Who is Cory Booker?

Cory Anthony Booker is an American politician and the current United States Senator-elect from New Jersey, concurrently serving as the Mayor of Newark, New Jersey. On October 16, 2013, he won the 2013 U.S. Senate special election in New Jersey as the Democratic candidate, making him the first African American US Senator from New Jersey and the first African American to be elected to the Senate since Barack Obama in 2004. He was first elected in 2006, and had previously served as a Newark City Councilor from 1998 to 2002. He ran for Mayor in 2002, but lost to incumbent Sharpe James; he ran again in 2006 and won against Deputy Mayor Ronald Rice. Booker is the third black Mayor of Newark.

He has gained a reputation for his personal involvement in public service, including going on a ten-day hunger strike outdoors to draw attention to the dangers of open-air drug dealing, living on a "food stamp" budget to raise awareness of food insecurity, shoveling the driveway of a constituent upon request, allowing Hurricane Sandy victims into his home, helping a constituent propose to his girlfriend, rescuing a dog from freezing temperatures, saving a woman from a house fire at his own risk and rescuing a dog that had been locked in a crate. He is an avid Twitter user and played collegiate football at Stanford.