WHAT DEMS ARE MISSING TONIGHT: Bold, Big Ideas From Cory Booker to Bring Real Justice and Opportunity to Every American
Newark, NJ — Without Cory Booker on the debate stage in Los Angeles tonight, the Democratic presidential field will be missing big, bold ideas that Cory Booker has advanced throughout his career and this campaign to deliver real justice and opportunity to every American.
This past weekend, nine Democratic presidential candidates, including every candidate on the debate stage tonight, urged the DNC to rethink the January debate qualification thresholds to ensure that the debate stage includes all viable candidates and fully reflects the diversity of the Democratic Party.
The debate qualification thresholds for the January debate have not yet been announced, but four public polls released in the past 10 days have shown Booker at four percent or higher in support, including three state-level polls (in Iowa, South Carolina, and Wisconsin).
However, there has been a significant slow down in the release of debate qualifying polls, calling the use of such a threshold into question. In fact, no state-level debate qualifying polls were released between the November debate and the December debate qualifying deadline.
Since the November debate, Cory 2020 has seen a surge in financial support and interest from voters in early states. After traveling to Nevada yesterday, Booker will spend the next five days in Iowa, launching a bus tour of the state tomorrow and hosting a flurry of events across the state.
Here are a dozen big ideas Cory has championed while running for president that Democrats will be missing from tonight’s debate:
1. Cory fundamentally changed the 2020 debate on gun violence, releasing the most sweeping gun violence prevention plan ever advanced by a presidential candidate. A number of presidential candidates have embraced his proposal for federal gun licensing.
2. Cory has unabashedly run his campaign focused on issues of criminal justice reform and restorative justice, calling on other presidential candidates to openly acknowledge the failure of the 1994 Crime Bill and the “tough on crime” policies of the 1980s and 1990s.
3. Cory is the only candidate pledging to liberate more than 17,000 individuals who are currently incarcerated from unjust sentences by identifying specific classes of individuals. He has repeatedly challenged the field to adopt his Restoring Justice Initiative which would be the most sweeping clemency initiative in over 150 years.
4. Cory was the first presidential candidate to offer a detailed vision to end child poverty in America. On the debate stage in October, he called out the moral obscenity that it had been 20 years since a presidential debate included a question on child poverty.
5. Cory has led the field by making racial and economic justice a centerpiece of his campaign, whether it’s his plan to implement “baby bonds” for every child in America, his landmark bill to start the process for reparations, or a first-of-its-kind Community Justice Fund to restore wealth in Black and Brown communities.
6. Cory has set a high bar (and pushed other candidates) on marijuana policy — not just demanding legalization, but expunging records and reinvesting in Black and Brown communities that for decades have been ravaged by the War on Drugs.
7. Cory has released the most ambitious-ever plan to bring environmental justice to communities long left behind. It isn’t just a campaign issue for Cory; he’s been leading on issues of environmental justice in the Senate and since his time as mayor of Newark.
8. Cory will massively increase the federal investment in low-income schools so that all schools can nurture the genius of our children. And as part of his plan to A Great Public School in Every Community and Opportunity for Every Child, Cory will also honor, value, and support teachers and public school professionals by increasing teacher pay, expanding loan forgiveness, and investing in teacher training and recruitment, especially to improve teacher diversity. Additionally, earlier this month, Cory outlined his plan to support and strengthen HBCUs. At $100 billion, Cory’s plan is among the boldest proposals by presidential candidates for investment in HBCUs and MSIs.
9. Cory has gone beyond fighting to protect Roe v. Wade; he’s pledged to use every available power of the presidency to secure reproductive rights, including creating a White House Office on Reproductive Freedom. He has called on others to join the fight; as he wrote in an open letter in GQ, it’s on men “to listen, to speak out, and to take action. Not because women are our mothers, sisters, wives or friends — but because women are people. And all people deserve to control their own bodies.”
10. Cory is taking on issues politicians too often ignore. He has the only plan to take on the multi-billion dollar sports industry to end the exploitation of athletes. And he’s long been a leader on protecting animals, including securing limits on animal testing in the Senate, which are estimated to save hundreds of thousands of animals from needless suffering each year.
11. Cory shows up. From joining asylum seekers crossing the border to breaking Senate norms by testifying against Jeff Sessions’ nomination as attorney general, to literally saving his constituents from a fire as mayor, Cory isn’t afraid to show up where he can make a difference.
12. Cory says, “you can’t campaign wrong and govern right;” that’s why he’s made it a priority to have a diverse and inclusive staff, guaranteed paid family and medical leave, and recognized the right of his campaign workers to unionize.
