Cory Booker: A Bipartisan Approach to Politics

With a focus on much-needed reforms for the criminal justice system and a bill advocating for Medicare for all, Cory Booker is currently the junior U.S. Senator from New Jersey and has been since 2013, having also served as the mayor of Newark for seven years before that. Yet, what sets Booker apart from the other Democratic candidates in the upcoming election is the way he looks at politics: through a bipartisan lens. When he speaks about his priorities in his campaign, Booker cites personal legislative work he has done in the past to highlight that conservatives and liberals can work together.

One example is the First Step Act, a criminal justice reform package of which Booker was one of six original supporters in the Senate. Reforms included reducing the large disparity between crack cocaine and powdered cocaine sentences (powdered cocaine sentences previously had been much shorter), preventing the shackling of pregnant prisoners, granting greater accessibility to reducing mandatory minimum sentences, and allowing federal judges more opportunities to make “safety valves,” or exceptions for those with limited or no criminal history. The latter was a concession that was key to gaining conservative support, resulting in the Senate passing the bill 87-12 as well as President Donald Trump signing it. Repairing the criminal justice system is something that all political parties agree upon, as many other political issues, including the economy and structural oppression, are all greatly affected by it. Many politicians across party lines agreed with Booker’s efforts, which shows the great appeal of Booker’s candidacy and his ability to make coalitions by crossing party lines. Booker plans on continuing these reforms, having introduced the Next Step Act, which though is not yet public, is a package of follow-up reforms that will continue to sustain the focus on repairing the criminal justice system by legalizing marijuana, fully eliminating the gap between crack and powder cocaine sentences, and allowing inmates the right to vote.

Like Bernie Sanders and Kamala Harris, Booker agrees that everyone should have access to Medicare—however, Booker’s approach to that end is more realistic than a large bill covering the entire industry. His approach is not purely liberal either, as he announced during his campaign that he wouldn’t eliminate private health care insurance. He stated, “Even countries that have vast access to publicly offered health care can still have private health care.” Booker also believes that while the prices of pharmaceutical drugs should be lowered, strict regulations on pharmaceutical companies should not be imposed. It has been a point of interest that Booker has been accepting donations from pharmaceutical companies throughout the past, but New Jersey politicians have always maintained a good relationship with pharmaceutical corporations, and Booker has also stated that he will be taking “a pause” from accepting money from such companies after he had revoked a bill proposed by Senator Sanders to lower drug prices.

Furthermore, Booker, like many other Democratic candidates, believes that climate change should be a national priority, one among the top three issues that his campaign hopes to focus on. A supplement to his support for the tech industry, Booker has recently signed the Green New Deal introduced by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, which pushes for more investment in clean technology. With his bipartisanship and focus on some of the nation’s biggest issues, Booker demonstrates a willingness to work with all political parties and an appeal to voters of a great variety of different backgrounds. Though it may not seem like he is in the lead at the moment, his appeal across party lines will be what carries him to the final stretch of the race and is what composes the majority of his great potential to be president.