Cory Booker

If there is one person who has made a name for himself in Newark, it’s politician Cory Booker. From the time he was in his last year of Yale Law, the politician participated in local advocacy work in the community, which would be the beginning of his path toward a dynamic political career as the former mayor of Newark to New Jersey’s first African-American senator. Booker was born in Washington D.C but spent his upbringing in Harrington, New Jersey to parents Carolyn Rose and Cary Alfred Booker. He would go on to attend Standford University for political science and eventually further his studies in United States history at The Queens College in Oxford as a recipient of the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship program. In 1998, Booker moved to a housing project in Newark and began his grassroots work, which quickly got the attention of the city into a 10-day hunger strike to draw attention to the problems of open-air drug dealing and violence. It was through that work that led him to run for mayor in 2002 but lost to Sharp James. He would go for the seat again in 2006 and win. During his time as mayor, Booker worked to reduce the crime rate and protect the city’s most vulnerable. In 2013, Booker resigned as mayor of Newark to go on and win a seat as the U.S. senator for the state of New Jersey. He would continue to push hard on liberal and progressive issues within the state, continuing his crusade to end mass incarceration and push criminal justice reform. Today, Booker continues to serve his community and still lives in Newark’s Central Ward as the founder of Newark Now, a grassroots organization serving the greater Newark community.