Cory Booker

Cory Anthony Booker was born on April 27, 1969, in Washington, D.C., grew up in northern New Jersey, and graduated from Northern Valley Regional High School in Old Tappan in 1987.⁠[1][2]

He received a B.A. (1991) and an M.A. (1992) from Stanford UniversityStanford UniversityStanford University is a research university in California founded by Leland and Jane Stanford in 1885 and opened in 1891.Open the full entry, where he played varsity football, volunteered at the campus peer counseling center, and wrote for the student newspaper.⁠[1][3]

As a Rhodes Scholar, he studied at The Queen’s College, University of OxfordUniversity of OxfordThe University of Oxford is a university in Oxford, England, where teaching existed in some form by 1096; it describes itself as the oldest university in the English-speaking world and is organised as a federal system of the university and dozens of self-governing colleges.Open the full entry, earning a graduate degree in 1994, and received a J.D. from Yale Law School in 1997.⁠[1]

After law school, Booker moved to Newark and founded a nonprofit providing legal services to low-income families, helping tenants challenge abusive landlords. In 1998 he moved into the Brick Towers housing project in Newark, where he lived until it was demolished in 2006.⁠[3]

He was elected to the Newark City Council at age 29 and served on it from 1998 to 2002.⁠[3][1]

Booker served as Mayor of Newark from 2006 to 2013. His initiatives as mayor included affordable housing, new green spaces and parks, expanded educational opportunities, and more efficient city services.⁠[1][3]

On October 16, 2013, Booker was elected as a Democrat to the U.S. Senate from New Jersey in a special election to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Frank Lautenberg, and he was sworn in on October 31, 2013.⁠[1]

He was re-elected to a full six-year term in November 2014 and re-elected again in 2020, defeating Republican Rikin Mehta.⁠[3][2]

Booker helped craft the First Step Act, a criminal justice reform law enacted in December 2018.⁠[3]

Booker sought the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination and withdrew early in 2020, saying he lacked the money to continue.⁠[1][2]

In 2025, Booker delivered a speech lasting 25 hours and five minutes, the longest in Senate history.⁠[2]

Booker ran unopposed in the June 2, 2026 Democratic U.S. Senate primary. As of mid-May 2026, his campaign had $22 million in funds.⁠[4][5]

In the November 3, 2026 general election, Booker faced Republican Justin Murphy, an attorney and former Tabernacle township committee member. At 8:00 p.m. EST the Associated Press declared that Booker had won re-election.⁠[4][6]

Booker serves on the Judiciary; Foreign Relations; Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry; and Small Business and Entrepreneurship committees. He was vice chair of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee from 2023 to 2025 and has chaired the Democratic Strategic Communications Committee since 2025.⁠[3][1]

Booker has worked on health care, the environment, education, and support for veterans, and has described the “broken criminal justice system” as a problem to fix. He opposed a planned ICEICEICE (Intercontinental Exchange) is a US financial-market infrastructure company founded in 2000. It operates exchanges and clearing services, fixed-income and data businesses, and mortgage technology. Its businesses include the New York Stock Exchange; founder Jeffrey Sprecher is chair and CEO.Open the full entry detention center in Roxbury Township and has introduced legislation to significantly expand the standard tax deduction.⁠[2]

Office of U.S. Senator Cory Booker: Official website: https://www.booker.senate.gov/ (opens in a new window).⁠[7]

X: Public account: https://x.com/senbooker (opens in a new window).⁠[7]