Corey Booker
Four years ago, the man who was mayor of Newark New Jersey introduced himself to Iowans at the 2012 Democratic National Convention as the “grandson of Iowa.” Cory Booker is now a U.S. Senator and he spoke to Iowa delegates at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia this week.
“You all know why I love this state. My family from the south, Alabama, struggling to make their American dream happen, mother’s mother, my dear grandmother who passed away recently, her family moved from Alabama to work coal mines in the state of Iowa,” Booker said, “Buxton, Iowa.”
Booker’s grandmother was born in Iowa, in 1918. Booker was among the candidates rumored to be on Hillary Clinton’s list of potential running mates and Booker provided Iowa Democrats with his core argument against Donald Trump.
“What I love about this country and don’t like about a certain slogan is that we don’t need to go backwards when our ancestors have worked so hard to make sure that every generation is better than the one before,” Booker said.
Booker told Iowa political reporters the national convention in Philadelphia had been a “testimony” to the Democratic Party, because “friction” was aired and mostly resolved in public.
Julian and Joaquin Castro.
“The problem we have in this country is not that too many people are involved, too many people are protesting, too many people are engaged,” Booker said. “It is that too many people are not engaged, too many are choosing not to even vote.”
U.S. Housing Secretary Julian Castro, another potential Clinton running mate, spoke to a meeting of Iowans at the Democratic National Convention this past week, too.
“(Clinton) is the only thing now sanding between Donald Trump and the White House,” Castro said.
Castro’s twin brother, Joaquin, is a Texas congressman. The twins both stopped by a breakfast meeting of Iowa Democratic Party delegates in Philadelphia this past week.