Cory Booker

Cory Booker
Official portrait, 2015
United States Senator from New Jersey
Incumbent
Assumed office October 31, 2013 Serving with Bob Menendez
Preceded by	Jeffrey Chiesa
38th Mayor of Newark
In office July 1, 2006 – October 31, 2013
Preceded by	Sharpe James
Succeeded by	Luis Quintana
Member of the Newark Municipal Council from the Central Ward
In office July 1, 1998 – June 30, 2002
Preceded by	George Branch
Succeeded by	Charles Bell
Personal details
Born	Cory Anthony Booker (1969-04-27) April 27, 1969 (age 55) Washington, D.C., U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Relatives	RuPaul (cousin)
Education	Stanford University (BA, MA) Queen's College, Oxford (MA) Yale University (JD)
Signature
Website	Senate website
College football career
Stanford Cardinal – No. 81
Position	Tight end
Class	1991
Major	Political science
Personal information
Height	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Weight	220 lb (100 kg)
Career history
High school	Northern Valley Regional High School at Old Tappan
Cory Booker's voice Cory Booker speaks on Public Defenders Recorded March 16, 2023

This article is part of a series about Cory Booker
Political positions Electoral history Mayor of Newark, New Jersey Mayoralty Elections 2002 2006 2010 U.S. Senator from New Jersey Elections 2013 special 2014 2020 First Step Act 2020 presidential campaign Endorsements Documentaries Street Fight Brick City
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Cory Anthony Booker (born April 27, 1969)^[1][2] is an American politician who has served as the junior United States senator from New Jersey since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, Booker is the first African-American U.S. senator from New Jersey. He was the 38th mayor of Newark from 2006 to 2013, and served on the Municipal Council of Newark for the Central Ward from 1998 to 2002.

Booker was born in Washington, D.C., and raised in Harrington Park, New Jersey. He attended Stanford University, receiving a BA in 1991 and a master's degree a year later. He attended Queen's College, Oxford, on a Rhodes Scholarship before attending Yale Law School.

He won an upset victory for a seat on the Municipal Council of Newark in 1998, staging a 10-day hunger strike and briefly living in a tent to draw attention to urban development issues in the city. He ran for mayor in 2002 but lost to incumbent Sharpe James. He ran again in 2006 and defeated Deputy Mayor Ronald Rice. Booker's first term saw the doubling of affordable housing under development and the reduction of the city budget deficit from $180 million to $73 million. He was reelected in 2010. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in a 2013 special election and reelected in 2014 and in 2020.

Throughout his Senate tenure, Booker has written, sponsored, and passed legislation advancing women's rights, affirmative action, same-sex marriage, and single-payer healthcare. He has pushed for economic reforms to address wealth inequality in the U.S., particularly the racial wealth gap. Booker has pursued measures to reform the criminal justice system, combat climate change, and restructure national immigration policy.

In foreign policy, he has voted successfully for tougher sanctions against Iran, voiced support for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, and lobbied for increased diplomacy in the Middle East. He was the first senator to ever testify against another senator during attorney general nominee Jeff Sessions's 2017 confirmation hearing. Booker was a candidate for the Democratic nomination in the 2020 U.S. presidential election, suspending his campaign on January 13, 2020.