President Barack Obama has endorsed Cory Booker in the special U.S. Senate election.

Cory Booker (L) shakes hands with President Obama at a Corzine campaign rally in 2009 (Michael Nagle/Getty Images)
Cory Booker (L) shakes hands with President Obama at a Corzine campaign rally in 2009 (Michael Nagle/Getty Images)
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Obama cited what he calls Booker's "passion" for Newark as Mayor that has created jobs and attracted businesses to the city. “Cory Booker has dedicated his life to the work of building hope and opportunity in communities where too little of either existed. Whether as a college student working in East Palo Alto or as mayor of New Jersey’s largest city," said Obama in a statement.

 

 

"Cory has time and again taken on tough challenges, fought for the middle class and those working to join it, and forged coalitions that create progress - and that's the spirit he'll carry with him to Washington.

Booker tweeted the news on Wednesday morning.


Booker added that "I will go to the Senate to advance our shared vision of a nation where opportunity is available to anyone willing to work for it, and to ensure we’re investing in the priorities that helped build America’s middle class."

Obama and Booker have not always been on the same page. In 2012 Booker was representing the President's re-election campaign on Meet The Press when he called Obama's attack on Mitt Romney's tenure "nauseating."

Booker was forced to backtrack on his comments that same day in a video made in his officer in which he clarified that his comments were made out of his "profound frustration" with negative campaigning and reiterated that he believes Obama “more than deserves re-election.”

Later he was named as one 15 members of the party’s Platform Drafting Committee and will address the Democrat National Convention.

Booker faces Republican Steve Lonegan in the special election to fill the seat formally held by the late Frank Lautenberg in a special election on October 16. Governor Chris Christie endorsed Lonegan yesterday at a campaign event in Flemington.

 

 

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