4 Takeaways From Cory Booker’s POTUS Campaign Kickoff In Newark

NEWARK, NJ — It took a few moments for U.S. Sen. Cory Booker to get the crowd to simmer down. But when the din died down in Newark’s Military Park on Saturday, the presidential candidate’s opening message during his “Hometown Kickoff” event was one of thanks… to his mother.

“Didn’t my mom do a great job?” Booker asked a crowd of thousands of chanting supporters after she kicked off the festivities with a heartfelt introduction for her son.

According to the senator, the lessons his mother taught him during childhood about “love” will be one of his most potent weapons as he vies for the presidency in 2020.

“We’re here today to seek justice,” Booker said. “We’re here today because we’re impatient for that justice. And our sense of moral urgency, our impatience, comes from the most demanding of all values… it comes from love.”

Read five quick takeaways and watch a video from Saturday’s event – the first stop on Booker’s “Justice For All Tour” – below.

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A PROGRESSIVE PLATFORM

During Saturday’s rally, Booker’s campaign touched on several key issues that he’s championed in the past, such as the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), criminal justice reform, gun control, recreational marijuana legalization, "combating wealth inequality," investment in water and public infrastructure and "simplifying" student financial aid.

“Together, we will rise,” the senator said during the conclusion of his speech, repeating his campaign tagline to a round of applause.

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DON’T COUNT OUT THE UNDERDOG

Saturday’s impassioned speech – first stop on Booker’s “Justice For All Tour” – was also a nod to the senator’s roots in Newark, including his time as mayor and his effort to “represent tenants taking on slumlords.”

It was also a call to never count out the underdog, a pressing message as an already-wide field of presidential candidates in 2020 expands by the week.

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“After 60 years of decline, Newark is growing again,” Booker told attendees. “There are so many places like that across America. Not just cities like this one, [but also] farm communities and factory towns that, like us here in Newark, have been given up on and talked down to, counted out and underestimated.”

THE ONLY WAY TO BEAT TRUMP IS WITH ‘LOVE’

As might be expected, Booker took a few thinly-veiled shots at President Donald Trump during his speech.

“We can’t wait when powerful forces are turning their prejudice into policy and rolling back the rights that generations of Americans fought for and heroes died for,” Booker said. “We can’t wait when this administration is throwing children fleeing violence into cages, banning Muslims from entering the nation founded on religious liberty, and preventing brave transgender Americans from serving the country they love.”

However, Booker also emphasized that he was very well aware that there are some who desire to see him and Trump “fear each other, dislike each other and hate each other.”

“Critics will tell us that a campaign powered by grace and love and a deep faith in each other can't beat that,” Booker said. “But I say it's the only way we win.”

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NOT ALL PROGRESSIVES ARE FOR BOOKER

Booker’s hometown kickoff also saw protest from a group of pro-Palestinian activists, part of the Students for Justice for Palestine chapter at Rutgers Newark campus, according to Yahoo News.

As one of the protesters told Yahoo News:

“You say ‘Justice For All’ and he named, you know, clean water, housing, affordable health care, freedom but he doesn’t ... talk about Palestine. They’re struggling just as much as us here — even more.”

Dozens of anti-war protesters previously slammed the presidential candidate about his “silence” on Venezuela and his “failures as mayor of Newark” during a campaign fundraiser in February.

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