Politics
Cory Booker on track to winning Senate seat despite setbacks
Newark Mayor Cory Booker. PHOTO/File
In an accelerated election for a new U.S. senator from New Jersey, the Democratic field is Cory Booker vs. everyone else.
The Newark mayor’s name recognition and deep-pocketed pals would give him an advantage in any statewide race. But the charismatic Booker, who clearly has national political ambitions and has spent significant time raising his profile on social media and giving speeches around the country, may be more familiar to talk show viewers than to New Jersey voters.
His ride to Washington got bumpier when the election was moved up a year because of Sen. Frank Lautenberg’s death this month.
Booker, hasn’t raised as much money as he hoped. He hasn’t finished his second term in Newark, something he promised to do when he decided not to challenge Gov. Chris Christie’s re-election bid. And he didn’t have time to try to discourage other Democrats from competing against him in a party primary.
Booker is still the odds-on favorite to win the August 13 primary, which is akin to coronation because a Republican has not held the seat for more than 40 years.
One recent poll had him up by 40 points among other Democrats. It also showed him well ahead of the likely Republican challenger, former Americans for Prosperity state director Steve Lonegan, in the October 16 general election, which will settle the seat for a year.
As few as 200,000 voters could decide the outcome, an anticipated turnout so low it adds to the uncertainty.
