Cory Booker is the senior United States senator from New Jersey and a member of the Democratic Party. He was previously the 36th mayor of Newark from 2006 to 2013. Before that Booker served on the Newark City Council for the Central Ward from 1998 to 2002.
Booker has been called a liberal and progressive Democrat. As a senator, he has a liberal voting record. In a July 2013 Salon interview, Booker said, "there's nothing in that realm of progressive politics where you won't find me." In a September 2013 interview with The Grio, when asked whether he considered himself a progressive, he said he was a Democrat and an American. According to the Humane Society, Booker has had the most pro-animal welfare voting record in the Senate year after year.
Booker supports long-term deficit reduction efforts for economic growth, cap and trade taxation to combat climate change, and increased funding for education. He has spoken in favor of creating a federal job guarantee and baby bonds (low-risk savings accounts that minors get access to at age 18). In the Senate, he has emphasized issues of racial and social justice. He played a leading role in the push to pass the First Step Act, a bipartisan criminal justice reform bill. He supports ending the war on drugs and the legalization of cannabis. Booker supports abortion rights and affirmative action."Safeguarding Civil Rights and Civil Liberties" , corybooker.com He supports LGBTQ+ rights, voting for the Respect for Marriage Act in 2022. Booker also supports a single-payer health care plan: in September 2017, he joined Bernie Sanders and 14 other co-sponsors in submitting a single-payer health care plan to Congress called the "Medicare for All" bill. Booker opposes abolishing private health insurance. Along with Senate Republicans in 2017, Booker voted against a measure to allow cheaper prescription drugs to be imported from Canada, citing concerns about the safety of Canadian drugs, which lead to the defeat of the measure. He faced progressive criticism for his vote. Booker is one of the Senate's top financial recipients from the drug industry.
After the US strike on Syria in April 2017, Booker criticized military action "without a clear plan" or authorization from Congress.
Booker supports a two-state solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. He has said that Iran is a direct threat to U.S. and Israeli security and feels all options should be on the table for dealing with the conflict,"Keeping America Secure" , corybooker.com but his decision to back the Iran nuclear deal framework damaged his long-term relationship with some Jewish voters and supporters. In an attempt to reduce the damage, he initiated an emergency summit for Jewish leaders, which some of his longstanding supporters did not attend. Booker was the sole Democratic co-sponsor of the Israel Anti-Boycott Act, receiving criticism from free speech advocates. From 2013 to 2024, he declared receiving $871,563 in funding from pro-Israel donors. In 2025, Booker was in a minority of Senate Democrats that voted not to block the sale of military arms to Israel despite rising death tolls from its war on Gaza and restrictions on humanitarian aid resulting in severe cases of starvation. Booker has consistently voted for arms sales to Israel and against Bernie Sanders' resolutions to condition military aid to Israel amidst the Gaza Strip famine and humanitarian crisis, saying that it "would restrict our country's ability to provide future security guarantees without achieving the goal of ending this war now or increasing vital humanitarian aid".
Despite his reputation as a progressive except Palestine, progressives have criticized Booker for various reasons. In 2017, he voted against a proposal to lower prescription drug prices, which led to criticism that he was too dependent on corporate support. In 2021, The American Prospect criticized Booker and Bob Menendez for recommending Christine O'Hearne to a federal judgeship after she had spent much of her career defending employers against discrimination and sexual harassment claims, and had defended a school against allegations that its swim coach had sexually abused a girl from ages 13 to 19.
Domestic policy
Affirmative action When asked if affirmative action in university admissions should be based on class or race or banned completely, Booker said both race and class should be considered and cited the 2003 U.S. Supreme Court ruling Grutter v. Bollinger.Perry Bacon Jr., "What Cory Booker will do in the Senate", The Grio, October 16, 2013
Agriculture In June 2019, Booker was one of 18 Democratic senators who had sent a letter to USDA Inspector General (IG) Phyllis Fong with the request that the IG investigate USDA instances of retaliation and political decision-making and asserted that not conducting an investigation would mean these "actions could be perceived as a part of this administration’s broader pattern of not only discounting the value of federal employees, but suppressing, undermining, discounting, and wholesale ignoring scientific data produced by their own qualified scientists."
Animal welfare According to the Humane Society, Booker has the most pro-animal welfare voting record in the Senate year after year. Booker has proposed legislation designed to improve animal welfare, including a bill that would ban the construction of new large concentrated animal feeding operations (called "factory farms" by critics) and close existing ones by 2040.
Anti-lynching In June 2018, Booker joined with the Senate's other two black members, Kamala Harris and Tim Scott to introduce a bill to make lynching a federal hate crime. Sixteen other Senators signed on as the initial cosponsors, and the bill was supported by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Between 1882 and 1986, nearly 200 anti-lynching bills were introduced in Congress, yet none had passed the Senate until this bill passed unanimously on December 19, 2018. The bill was referred to the House of Representatives where it died for lack of action by that body.
Budget When Cory Booker became Mayor of Newark, New Jersey in 2006, he was facing a $180 million budget crisis. When he left his office in 2013, he left the city with a balanced budget for the first time in a decade, twice as much affordable housing, two new hotels, a spate of made-over parks, a new residential tower, two (possibly three) new office towers, $150 million educational complex in the heart of Newark's downtown, and a larger population than when he entered office. He managed to balance the budget by raising taxes 20%, laying off hundreds of cops, cutting spending, and working with private sector-led urban development from wealthy investors.
Booker supports smart spending and investment now with long-term deficit reduction efforts to ensure economic prosperity."Ensuring Economic Fairness and Security" , corybooker.com
Census In June 2019, Booker was one of 28 senators to sign a letter led by Brian Schatz to Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross warning that Ross would "further delay and jeopardize the Census Bureau's ability to conduct a full, fair, and accurate decennial census as required by the U.S. Constitution and the Census Act" by continuing to attempt adding the citizenship question to 2020 census materials. The senators urged Ross to "allow the Census Bureau to proceed with preparation for a 2020 census without a citizenship question on the questionnaire."
Child care In 2019, Booker was one of 35 senators to introduce the Child Care for Working Families Act, a bill that created 770,000 new child care jobs and that ensured families under 75 percent of the state median income did not pay for child care with higher earning families having to pay "their fair share for care on a sliding scale, regardless of the number of children they have." The legislation also supported universal access to high-quality preschool programs for all 3 and 4-year-olds and gave the child care workforce a changed compensation and training to aid both teachers and caregivers.
Civil liberties He has called for amending the Patriot Act and said he was "troubled" by the revelations of the scope of the National Security Agency's secret spy programs, but has shied away from specifics.Matt Friedman, "Where Cory Booker and Steve Lonegan stand on the issues", nj, October 16, 2013 He voted for the USA Freedom Act, which re-authorized certain provisions of the Patriot Act in modified form.
Climate change Booker accepts the consensus that climate change is man-made and supports cap-and-trade or carbon tax approach in dealing with greenhouse gas emissions.
In October 2017, Booker was one of 19 senators to sign a letter to Environmental Protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt questioning Pruitt's decision to repeal the Clean Power Plan, asserting that the repeal's proposal used "mathematical sleights of hand to over-state the costs of industry compliance with the 2015 Rule and understate the benefits that will be lost if the 2017 repeal is finalized" and science denying and math fabricating would fail to "satisfy the requirements of the law, nor will it slow the increase in frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, the inexorable rise in sea levels, or the other dire effects of global warming that our planet is already experiencing."
In September 2018, Booker was one of eight senators to sponsor the Climate Risk Disclosure Act, a bill described by cosponsor Elizabeth Warren as using "market forces to speed up the transition from fossil fuels to cleaner energy — reducing the odds of an environmental and financial disaster without spending a dime of taxpayer money."
In November 2018, Booker was one of 25 Democratic senators to cosponsor a resolution specifying key findings of the Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change report and National Climate Assessment. The resolution affirmed the senators' acceptance of the findings and their support for bold action toward addressing climate change.
In March 2019, Booker was one of 11 senators to sponsor the Climate Security Act of 2019, legislation that would form a new group within the State Department that would have the responsibility for developing strategies to integrate climate science and data into operations of national security as well as restoring the post of special envoy for the Arctic, which had been dismantled by President Trump in 2017. The proposed envoy would advise the president and the administration on the potential effects of climate on national security and be responsible for facilitating all interagency communication between federal science and security agencies.
In June 2019, Booker was one of 44 senators to introduce the International Climate Accountability Act, legislation that would prevent President Trump from using funds in an attempt to withdraw from the Paris Agreement and directing the president's administration to instead develop a strategic plan for the United States that would allow it to meet its commitment under the Paris Agreement.
At the Detroit Democratic debate on July 31, 2019, Booker stated that no one "should get applause when they say they’re going to rejoin the Paris climate accord" as he advocated for more advanced thinking and stated that climate change would only be handled if the United States led on the subject and that it must be "the issue and the lens with which we view every issue."