Booker, Corey Anthony,
1969- , African American politician, b. Washington,
D.C., Stanford University (B.A., 1991; M.A., 1992), Rhodes Scholar,
Queen’s College, Oxford University (1994), Yale University Law School
(J.D., 1997). Although born in Washington, Booker was raised in suburban New
Jersey, where both of his parents worked for I.B.M., and were among the few
Black executives employed by the firm. During his last year of law school,
he decided to move to Newark to work as a community organizer. In 1998,
Booker was elected to Newark’s Municipal Council. He challenged
long-time mayor Sharpe James in the 2002 election, but lost, only to win his
next bid in 2006, serving two terms through October 2013. In 2013, he ran
successfully for his first term as the state’s first Black senator.
Booker briefly staged a campaign for the Democratic nomination for the
presidency in 2020. He currently sits on the Judiciary Committee, the
Foreign Relations Committee, the Environment and Public Works Committee, and
the Small Business Committee.
See writings (2016); Street Fight (2015; doc. film).
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