Being black gives Booker a direct connection to African-American voters. But his potential appeal with black voters comes down to more than his racial identity. Booker served as a city council member then mayor in majority-black Newark, New Jersey. As a senator, Booker was a leading figure in pushing for a criminal justice reform bill that was signed into law in December.
Booker would also make a more than acceptable nominee to Party Loyalists. For one, he’s a sitting senator, firmly enmeshed in the Democratic establishment. Moreover, over the last two years, high-profile Democratic candidates like Georgia’s Stacey Abrams and Alabama’s Doug Jones have brought Booker in to campaign for them, suggesting that other Democrats believe he has appeal. And if this bloc is particularly concerned about finding a candidate they perceive as able to win the general election, Booker’s electability case is obvious: America voted for someone kind of like him in 2008 and 2012. (Though I assume Booker will never actually say this out loud.)
There is no reason to think that Booker will be the candidate for Asian or Hispanic voters in the Democratic primary. But Booker doesn’t have any obvious downsides for those groups either.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member