Cory Booker

Cory Booker: biography

Cory Booker is an American politician, the junior United State Senator from New Jersey. His political decisions have always been directed to people's well-being and prosperity of America. So, what do we know about this person?

Childhood and youth

Cory Booker was born on April 27, 1969, in Washington, D.C., the United States of America. He passed his childhood in New Jersey, near Hainton Park, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) to the north of Newark.

His parents, Cary Alfred and Carolyn Rose, were the first black representatives of the management team of the “IBM” corporation. According to Booker's words, his family was a very religious one. They often visited the African Methodist Episcopal Church in New Jersey together.

Cory Booker has a brilliant education. He studied at the Northern Valley Regional High School at Old Tappan. There he played football in a school team and was appointed to the national team of the United States of America in 1986.

Later Booker entered Stanford University where he also was interested in playing football. Also, he was a member of the All-Pacific-10 Academic team. Booker was a senior class president. Moreover, he was a head of The Bridge Peer Counseling Center, a hotline for students and organized help from the University for young people in East Palo Alto, California.

He graduated in 1991 and got a degree of a political scientist. One year later, he got a Master's degree in sociology. Being a student, Cory Booker was an active sportsman and a social worker: he took part in many various social events.

Having graduated from Stanford, Cory got the Rhodes Scholarship and entered the University of Oxford. There he got a Doctorate Degree in American history. In 1997 he obtained a Doctorate in Law. Also, Booker studied legal sciences at Yale Law School.

Political career

After studying there, Booker got a job in the Urban Justice Center, New York. Alongside he cooperated with Youth Organizations of Newar.

In 1998 Booker won the Newar City Council election. He was concerned by several essential problems such as drug traffic in the city's streets, violence and juvenile delinquency. Booker staged a 10-day hunger strike: initially, he lived in a tent, later – in a motor home. In the City Council, he made several severe suggestions for housing, youth problems and policing. Unfortunately, in general, his ideas failed while voting.

Mayor of Newark

In 2002 Cory Booker didn't apply for the City Council elections again. Instead of it, Booker decided to try out the mayoral election. Alas, his opponent Sharpe James turned out to be stronger. Booker was called “not black enough” for the city. It should be noted that even being “not black enough,” he managed to get 47% of votes.

In the same year, Booker founded a “social” non-commercial organization which was to show to city dwellers new opportunities of using helpful city services and sources. Also, Booker became the partner of the Law Firm 'Booker, Rabinowitz, Trenk, Tully, Lubetkin, DiPasquale, and Webster'.

On February 11, 2006, Booker announced that he would apply for mayoral election again. His former opponent, Sharpe James, decided not to run for it. Then, Cory's new main competitor was Ronald Rice. However, Booker literally destroyed Rice, having captured 72% of votes in the elections. It was the voting record.

As soon as Booker started working, he created the 100-day reform plan in Newark. The reforms were to develop police, facilitate the lives of young people and give new opportunities for employment for people with a dark background.

Another his measure was to raise the property tax by 8.3 percent. However, he promised to postpone it until the next year (and he kept his word)

While his first term, Booker managed to reduce crime and raise salaries for many city services

People remember his second term due to several curious feats: thus, on 28 December 2010, Booker himself responded to the request on Twitter and helped an old man to clear the snowy way for his house.

On April 12, 2012, Cory Booker saved the life of a woman who had struck in a burning house. She breathed smoke an got a second-degree burns

In the same year, he said that would apply for the Senate Election.

U.S. Senate

On January 11, 2013, Booker filed the papers to form a campaign committee but didn't say whether he would run. Roughly one month after declaring his interest in running for the Senate, incumbent Lautenberg announced that he would not seek reelection.

On June 3, Lautenberg died of viral pneumonia; five days later Booker announced his intention to run for Lautenberg's seat in the 2013 special election. Booker announced his candidacy at two events: one in Newark and the other in Willingboro.

On August 13, 2013, Booker was declared the winner of the Democratic primary, with approximately 59% of the vote. On October 16, 2013, he defeated Republican Steve Lonegan in the general election 55% to 44%, making him the first African-American U.S. Senator from New Jersey and the first African-American to be elected to the Senate since Barack Obama in 2004. In several weeks he took the U.S. Senator's office and started working.

Booker's ideas have always been progressive and intended to ensure the well-being of people. For example, in 2018 the politician criticized Pharma Companies for not lowering drug prices but outlines billions in stock buybacks as well as actual increases in drug prices. "Instead of using the windfall to benefit consumers in the form of lower drug prices, they're using their savings to line the pockets of wealthy shareholders and executives. That's unacceptable."

Also, the politician has launched a Paid Internship Program aiming to give students from-working class families the opportunity to intern in DC and get money for it.

News of today about Corry Booker says that on 1 February, 2019, Booker announced his campaign for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States of America in the 2020 presidential election.

Obama association

In 2009, when Barack Obama became President of The United States, Booker was offered the leadership of the new White House Office of Urban Affairs. He turned the offer down, citing a commitment to Newark.

Booker generated controversy on May 12, 2012, when he appeared on Meet The Press as a surrogate for the reelection campaign of Barack Obama and made remarks that were critical of that campaign. Booker said that the attacks on Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's record at Bain Capital were

"nauseating to me on both sides. It's nauseating to the American public. Enough is enough. Stop attacking private equity. Stop attacking Jeremiah."

The comments were subsequently used by the Romney campaign against Obama Booker made follow-up comments clarifying that he believed Obama's attacks on Romney's record at Bain were legitimate but did not retract his point about attacking private equity in general. Two weeks later, Booker's communications director Anne Torres tendered her resignation, although she maintained it was unrelated to Meet the Press

Other activities

Movies

Booker's campaign in 2002, which he lost, was chronicled by director Marshal Curry in a documentary Street Fight. The work was nominated for an Oscar in 2005 as the best documentary.

In 2009 Booker played a role in a documentary show Brick City. The film is about Cory Booker himself, about his political activities, reforms, about his actions against drug traffic and crime. Brick City won Peabody Award in 2009 and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy in 2010

The politician also starred in the documentary Miss Representation in 2011. Another film Cory Booker took part in was Parks and Recreation. In 2015 he appeared in the episode Ms. Ludgate-Dwyer Goes to Washington alongside Orrin Hatch.

Jeff Sessions

Cory Booker, being an honest and decent man and politician, demands the same features from his colleagues.

In 2017, at one of the politician's meetings, Cory Booker criticized Jeff Sessions, then-United States Attorney General, in historic testimony. As an Attorney General, Sessions had to defend the equal rights of women, children, immigrants, gay and lesbian Americans, but he didn't honor the commitments. Booker said that Sessions didn't deserve the seat of the United States Attorney General and he wouldn't support his candidacy in the next election. Sessions left his seat in 2018. On February 14, 2019, William Pelham Barr, 68-year-old politician, took this post.

Cory Booker's book

In 2017, the politician published his own book United: Thoughts on Finding Common Ground and Advancing the Common Good. Written as an autobiography, the book calls American people for tolerance and compassion. United tells about the moments which concern Booker very much: race and sexual discrimination, violence and terrorism.

Mark Zuckerberg donation

In July 2010, Booker visited an official dinner at the conference in Sun Valley, Idaho. There he met Mark Zuckerberg, a founder of Facebook.

In 2010 Mark announced that he had donated $100 million to the education in Newark. According to the article in the New York Times magazine, later Booker and Zuckerberg went on discussing Booker's plans for Newark. The initial gift was presented in order to make a foundation for education. The gift was officially announced at The Oprah Winfrey Show, which Booker, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, and Zuckerberg visited together.

Personal life

Booker regularly does exercises to keep fit. Being an Oxford Student, he has even been a vegetarian since 1992. Booker doesn't consume alcohol and doesn't have bad habits, except for coffee.

In 2014 Booker sat on a vegetarian diet and expressed his vegetarian ethic philosophy

Booker has never been married. In 2013 he was called one of the 40 best bachelors Town & Country. Although the politician tried to keep his personal life in secret, he described himself as a “straightforward man” and said that he strived to meet more people to find his future wife.In February 2019, Cory Booker admitted that he had found a girlfriend - Late Night star Mindy Kaling.

In March 2019, the actress Rosario Dawson confirmed that earlier she had the relationship with Booker.

In 1992, in a column in the Stanford Daily magazine Booker admitted that being a teenager, he hated gays.

Booker's background influenced his view on life. We know that in general, the politician dedicates himself to resolving such problems as drug traffic and crime. And it has some reasons. From 1998 to 2006 Booker lived in Brick Towers, a very troubled apartment complex in Newark. According to his memory, he has seen people suffering from drugs, criminal groups, and crimes. Booker is famous for his quotes about current political problems, Internet users like creating memes with his speech and collect top stories connected with him.

Interestingly, that, being a student, Booker got mixed up in a little problem. So, he was accused of touching his classmate where they kissed at a party. The press started discussing this issue again in 2018, where the politician joined calls for an FBI investigation into the allegation of high-school-era sexual assault leveled by Christine Blasey Ford against Brett Kavanaugh. However, his scandal was not so serious.

Since 2013, Booker lives in a townhouse in Lincoln Park.

Cory Booker speaks Spanish fluently.

At present, Cory Booker's net worth is estimated at $563,000.