Corey Booker has represented New Jersey in the United States Senate since 2013. But the Democrat's political career began back home in the Garden State on the streets of Newark. He's in conversation with Faith Sy.
>> The best mayor ever. >> Thank you, brother. Thank you.
>> Appreciate you so much. >> Love you, man. Thank you for that.
OH MY GOD. >> DO YOU HAVE A crystal ball? Is he going to run?
>> You got no choice. >> There will be no announcement here. [laughter] Thumbs up smack.
>> New Jersey Senator Cory Booker hasn't been the mayor of Newark since 2013. >> But when he walks around his neighborhood, you'd never know it. >> How did you know that you could go right up to your senator and give him a hug?
>> Because it's him and he's always like that. >> He's still the mayor no matter what, right? >> I still the best compliment people give me is when they call me mayor.
I love this picture. Booker's parents, who were IBM executives, raised him and his brother in the predominantly white suburb of Harrington Park, New Jersey. He played football at Stanford on a full scholarship, attended Oxford University as a road scholar, where our paths crossed briefly, and graduated from Yale Law School.
>> This is home. >> When it came time to put down roots, >> this is the community that saw things in me I didn't see in myself. Same to you.
>> At 29, he became the youngest person ever elected to the New York City Council, but he quickly grew frustrated. >> I literally was on the verge of quitting cuz I couldn't get anything done in city hall. >> So, he took a different approach.
>> Wherever there's a problem, Booker moves next door. Last summer, he pitched a tent in front of a crimeinfested housing project to get more police protection. The city was shamed into action.
>> This is a Newark institution. That success fueled his desire to run for higher office. >> You ran for mayor of Newark in 2002 and you lost.
>> If you were going to have a spectacular failure, my best advice is to have a documentary team there to capture it. [laughter] >> Make every politician live in the worst neighborhood in their in their city. I guarantee the city would turn around a lot quicker.
>> Your opponent, Sharp James, called you Oh, and and these were meant as insults. Let's be clear. You were white, >> gay, Jewish, Republican.
>> Yes. >> Suspect, BOY. YOU AIN'T BLACK.
That's why I sometimes look at Trump's outrageousness and saying you don't know anything about hard-nosed politics of insult. >> You were forged in the fires of Newark. >> Forged in Brick City.
Newark is the toughest place in politics ever. >> After serving two terms as mayor, New Jersey sent him to the Senate. >> Tonight, I rise.
>> Last year, Booker spoke on the Senate floor for a record-breaking 25 hours and 5 minutes. He called out the Trump administration, making a passionate appeal to his Senate colleagues, giving voice to everyday Americans. >> This is a moral moment in America.
>> How did you prepare? >> A lot of prayer. Physically, I knew I needed to fast.
>> So, you didn't eat for how many days? >> 3 days. And then didn't drink for over 24 hours beforehand.
I had cramps. I had numb feet. And even at the end of 25 hours, >> my friend, Madame President, >> I told my chief of staff, I could go longer.
>> I yield the floor. I am fired up. >> You got angry at your Democratic colleagues, too.
You've called them complicit. >> I want us to call out the corrupt system. A lot of the bad things we're talking about didn't start with Donald Trump.
>> Your critics call your record-breaking stand a stunt. >> Yes. I think that if you don't have critics in life, you're not doing anything of substance.
I think Democrats are the worst communicators sometimes. Frankly, Donald Trump is a master's class of communication. I don't like what he says, how he says it, but Democrats, I think the political science word is we suck at communicating.
>> There's no bystanders. >> Which is why Booker is expressing his hopes in a new book out this week. In it, he encourages Americans to stand together, reminding us of our shared virtues.
>> We, the people, are the heroes this country needs. And the whole story of America is a story of ordinary Americans doing extraordinary things in the cause of our country in service of their neighbors, loving their neighbors. And love is sacrifice, service, kindness, and grace.
Our country is full of that. >> Do you hear people say, "Is this guy for real? " >> I heard that when I ran for president the first time a lot.
>> THE IDEALS OF LOVE, THE IDEALS of empathy. At this point when we have meanness and cruelty elevated the highest office in our land, I'm going to do everything I can to match his frequency of hate with a frequency of love. >> As much as he strives to create community, >> I'm going to I'm going to say I love you, sir.
>> The senator is not without his detractors. Some on the left have been critical of what appears to them to be your unconditional support of Israel. >> Look at what I'm doing.
I'm the senator right now leading the fight, for example, about settler violence in the West Bank. This is an issue that unfortunately people think is binary. As somebody who has been working to get humanitarian aid to Gaza, to me, this is about saving lives, ending the nightmare, there will never be Israeli security without Palestinian autonomy.
There will never be Palestinian autonomy without Israeli security. And as the standoff in the Senate continues over US involvement in the war with Iran, Booker is calling for hearings and accountability. >> Do you think this war is unconstitutional?
>> I know it's unconstitutional because the the fair reading of the Constitution only the United States Senate has the right to declare war. The president can defend the country if there's an imminent threat and he has not been able to show what was the imminent threat he was trying to stop. Presidents have taken us to war without resolutions.
What is Congress doing about this? >> So, here we have it in the worst I've ever seen it. We are allowing our president to declare war, to demand a surrender and not come to Congress.
>> So, Americans are going to hear you say that and say, "Okay, what are y'all doing about it? " >> So, to me, this is a good trouble moment. How can we shut down Senate business as usual and force hearings?
This past week, Booker has been the face of his party's resistance, so far unsuccessful. And he's also been pushing a bill to help Americans lower their federal income tax. Politics aside, the 56-year-old has plenty to smile about.
Last fall, he married Alexis Lewis in an interfaith ceremony. >> I didn't just wait for the right person to come along. I think what I now realize is I had to become the right person.
and it's just been two years of utter magic. >> This fall, he's up for reelection in New Jersey, but he's already thinking about what comes next. >> We saw a man on the street yesterday with socks that said Booker 2028.
Will people be wearing those socks in 2028? >> I am going to be, I'm telling you right now, a part of the fight in 2028. It's time for another sort of big moment in America for us to seize, reclaim, and redeem the dream of America.
What I'm doing as a part of that, I'm not sure yet. This isn't a moment of America decline. This is the moment in that chrysalis of darkness that we were about to emerge again and soar to new heights.
