Riding on a political and popular high from his 25-hour-and-5-minute speech in the US Senate, Cory Booker held a town hall Saturday at Bergen Community College to an enthusiastic crowd. In the lead-up to the senator’s arrival, New Jersey spirit was high, with music from New Jersey artists Whitney Houston, Jon Bon Jovi, Gloria Gaynor, and Bruce Springsteen playing.
In the front row was former State Senator Loretta Weinberg who came to the town hall with her neighbors. She had been with them earlier in the morning holding signs and demonstrating as part of a nation-wide April 5 “Hands Off” protest against the Trump administration.
“Our theme this morning was if we 80- and- 90-year-olds can get off our duffs, your generation better stand up and protect our democracy,” she told Insider NJ. “So much of this bubbled up from the bottom and there was this thirst, I think, for leadership. Cory Booker stepped into that vacuum not only with the filibuster that he did, but the words that it was filled with. When people get up to do a filibuster, they sometimes read from the phone book or the encyclopedia or whatever. He spoke for 25 hours about why we should be protecting our democracy against Donald J. Trump, and that was the most moving part of this whole thing for us. I say all of this bubbled from the bottom up, and now I’m glad to see somebody from our own state of New Jersey filling this vacuum and he did it in an appropriate, dramatic way.”
One of Booker’s staff members said that about 1,100 people registered to attend the town hall. People in the audience were generally dressed for the cold, rainy weather, although many took to opportunity to express themselves with their clothes. Some attendees had “Harris-Walz” baseball hats, LGBTQ pride-themed shirts, some wore camouflage, some had shirts in support of teachers, many wore veterans caps. One shirt read “You’re Probably DEI, too,” in reference to the Trump administration’s executive orders reversing and erasing diversity, equity, and inclusion policies.
Bergen County Executive Jim Tedesco welcomed Senator Booker when he arrived on stage, delivering his own remarks before the senator began. “I’m thrilled that he’s here today coming to the largest community college in the state of New Jersey,” Tedesco said to Insider NJ. “This is where people get to express themselves and learn. How great is it that Cory Booker, who espouses those same things, those same principles, is here at this facility saying those things now to the people here today? I’m excited and I’m thankful for what Senator Booker did, and I’m just happy to be able to welcome him here today and to tell him ‘job well done’.”
Tedesco would later say that the senator’s speech was “amplifying the voices of his constituents and Americans across the nation as he stood up for what is right.”
A repeated theme at the town hall, said by both Booker and Tedesco, was “the power of the people is greater than the people in power.”
Booker thanked Tedesco for his introduction and called him a personal friend, one who had encouraged his first foray into politics.
The address was immediately disrupted by protestors who shouted at Booker regarding the war in Gaza, slamming his support for Israel.
One man in the bleachers banged his cane, shouting “Decorum! Wait your turn!”
About five protestors in total were escorted out by police without incident from the auditorium. Booker said that he respected their opinions and right to express them, but that it was not right to deprive the audience of their opportunity to be part of the town hall.
There were no further disruptions after the fifth protestor was led out, and the senator wrapped up his introduction to take questions from the audience.
Questions covered a number of topics and concerns, but one of the salient issues brought up by parents of children with disabilities, a nurse, and others, was funding cuts to Medicaid and Medicare. With millions of Americans reliant on these programs, the Republican plan to cut $880 Billion from the budget would imperil their lives and livelihood, with many people wholly reliant on these services due to their life circumstances.
Booker said that these cuts would put American families who are struggling into crisis. He said, “The greatest poverty in America is a poverty of empathy,” condemning the cuts to these programs, not only as cruel to those who need them, but also bad economics.
If families can take care of their loved ones at home with Medicare and Medicaid, then that is a greater savings to the alternatives, such as looking for services outside the home, or the catastrophic consequences which would follow if those were not available, either.
The senator said more than once that residents were “blessed” to live in a state such as New Jersey, but that did not negate or lessen their struggles. Americans in rural and economically depressed areas are even more reliant on Medicare and Medicaid, and will be among the hardest hit by such cuts.
Booker said that 40% of women who have babies in America rely on Medicaid. With 80,000 staff being cut from the Veterans Affairs, it will be that much harder for women veterans having children.
With the Department of Education’s dismantlement a top priority of the Trump administration, members of the audience wanted to know what they could do to protect special needs students and programs which rely on DoE funding. The senator encouraged organizations in New Jersey to reach out to his staff on how to partner up, acknowledging that the situation is dire.
On affordability, one of the chief concerns among all New Jerseyans who live in a state with some of the highest taxes in the nation, Booker agreed. “We pay too much in taxes!” Booker slammed the president for taking away the SALT deductions in his first administration, something which would save New Jersey homeowners money if restored.
In 2021, during the Biden Administration, members of New Jersey’s Democratic House delegation had leveraged SALT, tying their support for a budget reconciliation package with legislation that would support SALT’s restoration.
Affordability in New Jersey is critical, he said, because it means the “difference between being able to survive or thrive.
On federal taxes, he said, “New Jersey gets back seventy cents for every dollar” sent to Washington DC. But he also acknowledged the math of the Congress with a Republican-crafted budget slashing billions in governmental spending while carving out huge tax breaks for the most wealthy percentage of the population. “We don’t have the numbers.” What is needed, he said, is for at least three Republicans to break with Trump. He cited the 4 GOP dissenters in the Senate as a hopeful sign when they joined Democrats to oppose tariffs with Canada.
A question came to the senator asking him what he would say to young people who are turned off to the idea of running for office in the current climate. To this, Booker said that there is a streak of authoritarianism running through the country. He said that American greatness is “how we overcome hate.” To the youth, he said, “we are desperate for your leadership… this is your time to stand up now.”
Many of the questions asked included, in some form or another, a question of, “what can we do?” Which is to say, what can regular people do, given the mathematical minority status of the Democratic party in Congress? To that end, Booker said Republicans face enormous pressure from the administration’s bullying, and the threat of being primaried with financial support from the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, keeping them largely in line. Popular pressure from their constituents was therefore essential to get Republicans to “crack,” as he said. The special elections in Florida to fill Gaetz’s and Waltz’s seats went to Republican successors, but what should’ve been easy wins saw Democrats make strident gains in those districts. Musk weighing into Wisconsin’s Supreme Court election failed, with voters choosing a liberal-leaning judge over Musk’s conservative favorite.
When asked about cuts to research and development, Booker said it was not fiscally responsible to make cuts where the investments are outpaced by the gains. He said that while the US was chopping scientific and medical research, China was “doubling down” and positioning itself to replace the US as a global leader in these sectors.
On New Jersey’s governor race, he said that it was “vital” and emphasized the need for engagement on the local level, where political discourse is shaped. He did not endorse any particular candidate for governor.
Cory Booker ran in the 2020 presidential primary election, although his campaign failed to generate much traction at the time. During a period when popular frustration is rising, Booker may have made himself something of a political lightning rod amid the less-inspiring old wing of the Democratic federal leadership. Whether or not Booker will ride a “moment” that could become a “movement” has yet to be seen. He said he intends to run for re-election to the US Senate in 2026, avoiding a question as to whether or not he might run for president again. Three years in America is a political eternity, and in an era where political norms have been up-ended, anything is possible.
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