“My father passed away a few days before my election. This man, an African American born to a poor single mother in 1936 in the South, would worry in the last years of his life that he had better life chances when he was growing up than a young man born in the same circumstances would have today.”

American politician and lawyer

Cory Booker is an American politician and lawyer. He serves as the senior United States senator from New Jersey, a seat he has held since 2013. He is also the first African-American U.S. senator from New Jersey. Booker is a member of the Democratic Party. Before entering the Senate, he was the 38th mayor of Newark from 2006 to 2013, and served on the Newark Municipal Council for the Central Ward from 1998 to 2002.