“Probably His Best Performance So Far”: Cory Booker Showed Viewers Who He Is, How He Has Led The Field, How He Will Unify the Country
Newark, NJ — Last night on the debate stage, Cory Booker showed viewers exactly who he is and how he has led the field of candidates on issues like gun violence prevention and gun licensing, on unifying the party and the country to defeat Trump, and on the way to take on systemic racism in this country.
For the third debate in a row, Cory won the night, and he did so without tearing down other Democrats or dividing the party. Instead he showed Democrats how he will heal our country and make real change for Americans facing injustice and seeking opportunity.
Read excerpts of the coverage below:
[Opinion] Washington Post: Sen. Cory Booker (N.J.): Probably his best performance so far. Booker showed he was knowledgeable on policy and comfortable in the spotlight, yet his campaign is on life support. Booker needed to avoid disaster, and tonight he did much better than that.
NJ.com: Booker keeps turning in strong debate performances and this was probably his strongest. He offered a big vision and was very comfortable on that stage.
The Economist: Mr Booker, who has shed some of his excessive earnestness, and is more appealing for it, also delivered the best gag of the evening. Asked by the debate moderator Jorge Ramos whether more Americans—“here in Texas and in Iowa”—should adopt his vegan diet, the senator deadpanned at the expense of his flashily Spanish-speaking rivals: “I want to say, no. Actually, I want to translate that into Spanish: no.”
CNN: Booker skillfully turned specific policy questions into eloquent arguments about the need to unify America. When the debate turned to the series of mass shootings, for example, Booker argued that America needed to show more "courageous empathy."
"We are never going to solve this crisis if we have to wait for it to personally affect us or our neighborhood or our community before we demand action," Booker said, noting his own experience with gun violence as mayor of Newark.
"I have seen what the carnage creates in communities like mine, because we forget -- national shootings, these mass shootings are tragedies, but the majority of the homicide victims come from neighborhoods like mine," Booker said.
[Opinion] Washington Post: Sen. Cory Booker (N.J.) showed passion throughout, assuming the role of preacher in describing “a crisis of empathy in our nation.”
CNN: Senator Cory Booker had a great night. Clearly he was having the most fun on stage. He was passionate and informed about the issues many voters care about most: health care and justice reform. He was poised, sticking to policy and offering solutions instead of wasting time attacking his fellow Democrats -- take notes Julian Castro.
And in a nice respite, the New Jersey senator gave us much-needed comic relief all night. I mean, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's perfectly-coiffed hair really is a bit “menacing,” as Booker joked.
Booker, more than any Democrat on that stage, was able to make us feel the humanity and urgency of the complex issues before voters. Over and over he brought the talk back around to everyday Americans. Debating the merits of Medicare for All and other health care plans, Booker reminded us that there are children in his community who need affordable insulin, “right now.” They can’t wait years.
[Opinion] CNN: Cory Booker: A-
Senator Booker's answers on criminal justice reform, mass incarceration, corporate factory farming and environmental racism were on-point. Booker's most clever use of language was to say that gun control was not a side issue for him, which demonstrated he's reading the Democratic base well, since at least one recent poll put gun control just ahead of climate change for Democratic voters in advance of Thursday's debate.
