Booker, Cory, 1969-

<p>Cory grew up in northern New Jersey and received his undergraduate and master’s degree from Stanford University. At Stanford, Cory played varsity football, volunteered for the campus peer counseling center, and wrote for the student newspaper. He was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship and went on to study at the University of Oxford, and then Yale Law School, where he graduated in 1997.</p>

<p>Cory moved to Newark after law school and started a nonprofit organization to provide legal services for low-income families, helping tenants take on slumlords. In 1998, Cory moved into “Brick Towers” in Newark, which eventually became a housing project. Cory lived there until the housing project was demolished in 2006.</p>

<p>Cory still lives in Newark's Central Ward today, where he sees first-hand many of the challenges he's working to solve in Congress, such as lack of access to affordable health care, environmental injustice, food insecurity, and our broken criminal justice system.</p>

BOOKER, Cory Anthony, a Senator from New Jersey; born on April 27, 1969, in Washington, D.C.; graduated Northern Valley Regional High School, Old Tappan, N.J., 1987; B.A., Stanford University, 1991; M.A., Stanford University, 1992; attended The Queen’s College, University of Oxford, Oxford, England, as a Rhodes Scholar and received a graduate degree in 1994; J.D., Yale Law School, 1997; worked as an attorney in the non-profit sector; Newark City Council 1998-2002; Mayor of Newark, N.J. 2006-2013; elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate in a special election on October 16, 2013, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Frank Lautenberg, a seat subsequently held by appointed senator Jeffrey Chiesa, and took the oath of office on October 31, 2013; reelected in 2014, and again in 2020 for the term ending January 3, 2027; was an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020.

<p>Cory Anthony Booker (born April 27, 1969) is an American politician, attorney, and author 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 previously the 38th Mayor of Newark from 2006 to 2013. Before that time, Booker served on the Municipal Council of Newark for the Central Ward from 1998 to 2002.</p>

<p>Booker was born in Washington, D.C. and raised in Harrington Park, New Jersey. He attended Stanford University receiving a BA in 1991 and then a master's degree a year later. He studied abroad at the University of 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 where he staged a 10-day hunger strike and briefly lived 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 won against 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 re-elected in 2010. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in a 2013 special election and subsequently won reelection in 2014 and in 2020.</p>

<p>Throughout his Senate tenure he 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, but suspended his campaign on January 13, 2020.</p>