Through presidential campaign stops through New Hampshire and Iowa in May, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker was careful to not attack his primary competitors and gave measured responses when asked about the headlines of the day.
This week, though, Booker aggressively condemned former Vice President Joe Biden’s characterization of his relationships with segregationist senators, reflecting a distinct shift in tone and strategy.
Booker on Wednesday called on Biden to apologize for comments that he made at a campaign fundraiser Tuesday touting his relationships with segregationist Sens. James O. Eastland of Mississippi and Herman Talmadge of Georgia, conservative Democrats who were Biden’s Senate colleagues in the 1970s.
“[Eastland] never called me ‘boy,’ he always called me ‘son,’” Biden said, according to a pool report. “At least there was some civility. We got things done. We didn’t agree on much of anything. We got things done.”
“You don’t joke about calling black men ‘boys,’” Booker said Wednesday. “Vice President Biden’s relationships with proud segregationists are not the model for how we make America a safer and more inclusive place for black people, and for everyone.”
Booker took a softer tone toward Biden’s close relationship with another segregationist-era senator, Strom Thurmond, less than a month and a half ago.
When asked at a campaign stop in Keene, N.H., on May 11 what he thought of Biden’s relationship with Thurmond, Booker told the Washington Examiner that while he didn’t “know much about their relationship,” he could understand working with those with whom he disagreed.
“I know I have a lot of relationships with people across the aisle, trying to find common ground, move towards justice,” Booker said. “I understand why any Democratic senator would reach across the aisle and find ways to get things done.”
Booker had brought up Thurmond, who filibustered the Civil Rights Act, in his speech to the crowd in Keene while arguing that bold plans are achievable. “They literally told my mom and her generation, after Strom Thurmond had the longest filibuster in Senate history, that you can’t get civil rights legislation passed,” Booker said.
Booker’s campaign did not return requests for comment about his shift in tone toward Biden’s relationships with segregationists. But Biden’s usage of the word “boy” appears to be major factor in Booker’s decision to go on the attack. Biden “should know that using the word ‘boy’ in the way he did can cause hurt and pain,” Booker told CNN Tuesday, noting the “deeply harmful and hurtful usage of the word ‘boy’ and how it was used to dehumanize and degrade.”
Scott Ferson, a Democratic strategist and president of Liberty Square Group, told the Washington Examiner that Booker’s aggressive tone toward Biden could help him get in the daily media conversation about the large Democratic presidential field.
“Booker came into the Senate as a rock star,” Ferson said. “In a crowded field like this, it’s a different thing.”
One repeatedly compared to Barack Obama and called a “superhero mayor” of Newark, N.J., Booker has struggled to break through to the top tier of candidates in Democratic primary polls while fresh faces such as South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg and former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke dominate the media conversation.
At a campaign stop in Fairfield, Iowa, in late May, Booker brushed off his lackluster poll numbers and focused on his campaign’s extensive ground game.
“The people that actually know what wins in Iowa, which is the kind of team that you have, the kind of commitments to caucus you’re getting, the kind of early endorsements you get out of states like this and New Hampshire and South Carolina, we’re doing extraordinarily well in those metrics,” Booker told reporters. He also declined to call for President Trump’s impeachment, saying that congressional investigations should continue.
Days later, however, following a press conference where special counsel Robert Mueller discussed the contents of his report on Russian interference in the 2016 election and potential obstruction of justice by Trump, Booker called for impeachment proceedings to begin.
Candidates “try to find that thing that separates you out and showcases your communications talent,” Ferson said, adding that Booker’s tone toward Biden on the segregationists “may be one of those things” that works for him.
Booker’s call for Biden to apologize comes ahead of a weekend where 22 presidential candidates will attend events in South Carolina, a key early primary state where black voters make up a majority of the Democratic primary electorate.
“With the way that Sen. Booker’s handled it, he’s gotten people’s attention … Once you get their attention, see if you can persuade them over to your side,” Ferson said. “I think South Carolina will be a good test to see if he can start to do that.”
