Cory Booker

America has seen enough of a handful of people growing rich at the cost of our nation descending into economic crisis. ”

We choose forward. We choose inclusion. We choose growing together. We choose American economic might and muscle, standing strong on the bedrock of the American ideal: a strong, empowered and ever-growing middle class. ”

As a guy that had been told to drop out many times as I was coming up, I don't think you should tell any candidate about what they should do and what decisions they should make. ”

My father passed away a few days before my election. This man, an African American born to a poor single mother in 1936 in the South, would worry in the last years of his life that he had better life chances when he was growing up than a young man born in the same circumstances would have today. ”

You have to understand the Newark Riots - a lot of people understand that the pain was the initial explosion of anger and alienation, but after that, the response, sending the National Guard troops - a lot of violence was carried out and perpetrated by those who were allegedly coming here to protect residents. ”

Gender equality has long been at the forefront of my mind, and I think the Me Too movement has elevated many men's consciousness, my own included, about how to be better allies. ”

While most men don't have first-hand experience with gender-based discrimination, we can still be powerful allies for advancing women's rights. We need to do a better job of listening to women and standing up for what's right, even when it's not popular or comfortable. ”

To me, feminism is believing in women's equality, and I ardently ascribe to that belief. ”

Equal protection under the law - for race, religion, gender or sexual orientation - should not be subject to the most popular sentiments of the day. ”

I don't know what the strategy will be in Washington. The reality is, is, I have got to go down there, as my mentor, as people like Bill Bradley have told me to do, get to know your colleagues on both sides of the aisle, recognize that they, too, beat with the same heart and the same type of blood. ”