I recently spoke with United States Senator Cory Booker about the upcoming presidential election, his stance on the Black Lives Matter movement, and young people’s role in bringing about change. The Senator has represented New Jersey, where I live, since 2013. He is running for re-election this year.
Booker ran unsuccessfully for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. Now he supports former Vice President Joseph R. Biden, who will face President Donald J. Trump, a Republican, in the November election. “I think Joe Biden really wants to be a healer and try to bring our country together,” Booker said. “That’s my hope, that we as a nation can begin to understand [that] we're best when we work together.”
Booker is concerned that President Trump has refused to say he will accept the results of the election if he loses. “We’ll have to see what happens,” Trump recently told a reporter. The president has also made several claims, without evidence, that an increase in mail-in voting due to the coronavirus pandemic will lead to widespread fraud.
“For the first time in my life,” Booker said, “I’m really worried about the peaceful transition of power in the United States if Donald Trump loses…. He’s calling into question the legitimacy of the election.”