Born in Washington D.C. and raised in northern New Jersey to successful parents (both among the first black executives at IBM). Cory Booker’s life is one of tremendous privilege and success.
Booker was able to attend Stanford on a full-ride football scholarship, where he was Brad Muster and Ed McCaffrey. Because of his academic and football success at Stanford, Booker was offered – and accepted – a Rhodes scholarship to attend Oxford University. To top it off, Booker then attended Yale, where he earned his law degree.
Needless to say, Booker could’ve done whatever he wanted to. Instead of earning a lot of money at a law firm, Booker decided his skills would be best-used as mayor of Newark, New Jersey, where his tenure was punctuated by countless distinctions and awards – and even an instance where Booker saved someone from a house fire.
Booker wanted his political career to evolve, so he announced his candidacy for a U.S. Senate seat for New Jersey. He ultimately won that seat, and brought the same energy, intelligence, passion, and hope that he had throughout his entire life to the U.S. Senate.
