Booker more confident after debate
Senator preparing for fourth visit to Nevada
Days ahead of his fourth visit to Nevada and less than 24 hours after hitting the Democratic presidential debate stage for the first time, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., is feeling good.
The debate “went extraordinarily well,” Booker said in an interview Thursday with the Las Vegas Review-journal. “I started this campaign with a lot lower name recognition than the others. There were over 20 million people who watched … and they got to hear my heart, my head and my vision for the country.”
Booker was one of 10 candidates in Miami for the first of 12 official Democratic primary debates. Another 10 candidates participated in a similar debate Thursday night.
The debate led to an influx in donations, website traffic and mentions of his name on Google and social media, Booker said. When asked if he felt underestimated heading into the debate — most national polls have him outside the top five — the senator said he was comfortable with where the campaign stood.
“If you look at history, people who poll the highest this far out do not go on to win the nomination,” he said. “We’re going to work hard in the four early primary states. It’s still very early. I was confident before I entered the race, and now I’m even more confident.”
Booker was one of several candidates to address the audience in Spanish from the debate stage, and he found himself in the thick of heated discussions on immigration and diverse communities.
When asked about his path through Nevada, Booker repeated something he said on the big stage Wednesday and has said on small stages throughout the country: He is the only candidate living in a majority black and brown community, and he has shown himself to be “an authentic leader” on criminal justice reform, immigration and economic development.
“I was mayor of Newark for longer than I’ve been a senator, and my career has rested on the support of black and brown communities and on being chosen to lead them,” Booker said.”
Booker added that he “would not have been on (the debate) stage if it wasn’t for Latino support.”
The senator will return to the Las Vegas Valley next week for speeches at an award ceremony hosted by the Nevada Democratic Veterans and Military Families Caucus on Wednesday and the Boulder City Damboree on Thursday.
Elsewhere on the campaign trail Thursday:
Democratic presidential candidates Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-mass., Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT., New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and former Texas Rep. Beto O’rourke each visited the nation’s largest child migrant detention center in Homestead, Florida.
Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar stopped by on Wednesday, and California Rep. Eric Swalwell visited on Monday. Six others, including South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, announced Friday visits.
Mayor de Blasio shouted a Spanish slogan associated with Cuba’s Communist revolution at a rally, drawing criticism in a city heavily influenced by exiles who fled Fidel Castro’s rule. He later apologized on Twitter, saying he didn’t understand the history and significance of the phrase “Hasta la Victoria, siempre!”
Contact Rory Appleton at rappleton @reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0276. Follow @Rorydoesphonics on Twitter. The Associated Press contributed to this report.