On Monday, less than a month before the 2020 Iowa caucuses, Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) suspended his campaign for president. He had staked his campaign on a strong performance in Iowa, but he was getting nowhere in the polls.
“Today, I’m suspending my campaign for president with the same spirit with which it began. It is my faith in us, my faith in us together as a nation, that we share common pain and common problems, that can only be solved with a common purpose and a sense of common cause,” he said in a video posted on Twitter.
It’s with a full heart that I share this news—I’m suspending my campaign for president.
To my team, supporters, and everyone who gave me a shot—thank you. I am so proud of what we built, and I feel nothing but faith in what we can accomplish together. pic.twitter.com/Fxvc549vlJ
— Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) January 13, 2020
Many liberal commentators liked Booker and he reportedly organized a strong campaign on the ground in Iowa, but he failed to win over likely Democratic caucus-goers.
Last week, the New Jersey senator gave an interview on the Associated Press’s podcast “Ground Game,” touting his effective organization on the ground in Iowa and predicting that he would surprise everyone in the Iowa caucuses. Less than a week later, he’s out.
President Donald Trump poked fun at the senator after he withdrew from the race.
“Really Big Breaking News (Kidding): Booker, who was in zero polling territory, just dropped out of the Democrat Presidential Primary Race. Now I can rest easy tonight. I was sooo concerned that I would someday have to go head to head with him!” the president tweeted.
Really Big Breaking News (Kidding): Booker, who was in zero polling territory, just dropped out of the Democrat Presidential Primary Race. Now I can rest easy tonight. I was sooo concerned that I would someday have to go head to head with him!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 13, 2020
Indeed, Booker was polling at 2.7 percent in Iowa, according to the RealClearPolitics polling average.
Booker ran an identity politics-heavy campaign. When Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) dropped out of the race, he lamented the possibility of a campaign stage “with no diversity whatsoever,” seemingly forgetting Andrew Yang entirely. Last June, he refused to rule out a meeting with notorious anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan. When former Vice President Joe Biden — popular among black Democrats as the candidate they see most likely to defeat Trump — touted his civility toward racist colleagues, Booker condemned him, claiming he was “praising segregationist senators.”
Shortly after announcing his candidacy, Booker launched an inquisition into the faith of a Trump judicial nominee, pressing her over and over again on the question of whether or not she sees homosexual relationships as “sinful.”
Like Harris and former HUD Secretary Julian Castro, Booker appears to have thought the extreme liberals on Twitter represented the true spirit of the Democratic Party. The New Jersey senator’s rhetoric may have been stronger than his fellow identity politics allies, but he got the same kind of rude awakening they did.
Democratic voters care less about “intersectionality” than they do about defeating Trump in November. However, the far-left push of candidates like Harris, Castro, Booker, and Beto O’Rourke may make the eventual nominee far too liberal for Americans in November. Biden, for instance, long touted as a moderate, has surprisingly radical views about enforcing LGBT — and especially the T — policies on the nation, and suppressing anyone who dares to dissent.
Follow Tyler O’Neil, the author of this article, on Twitter at @Tyler2ONeil.
