Former President Jimmy Carter has offered an early show of support for Sen. Cory Booker as a possible 2020 Democratic contender.
Carter’s words of encouragement, shared on the New Jersey Democrat’s Instagram account, were offered during the senator’s road trip through Georgia en route to a Martin Luther King Jr. Day event he’s headlining in South Carolina with Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. Carter and Booker met after a Sunday school class led by the 39th president.
“I’m very glad to have you here this morning, and I hope you come back. And I hope you run for president,” Carter said in the video.
[Read more: 45 Democrats jostling to challenge Trump in 2020]
Former President Jimmy Carter is encouraging Democratic Sen. @CoryBooker to run for President. Booker was in Plains, GA with Rep. John Lewis this morning. So far, anything with #Booker2020 on it seems to be supporter made or a prop on SNL. #11Alive @11AliveNews pic.twitter.com/393Hxcfiy5
— Joe Giesy (@HeyJoeGies) January 20, 2019
Booker, who thanked Carter, later posted a photo of the pair with Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga. Lewis , a civil rights icon, joined the potential 2020 hopeful at the church in Plains, Ga.
“Thank you President Carter and Congressman Lewis for being steadfast in these difficult times. Like a light house in a storm, your stature is a grace that guides,” Booker wrote on Instagram.
“I believe we need a revival of civic grace in our country. We have so much common pain in America – from the lack of affordable health care to the opioid crisis to dignity assaulting jobs that don’t pay a living wage or offer basic security and so much more. We have a common pain, but we lack a common purpose,” Booker said. “We need a more courageous empathy that enables us to see each other; to help understand that the lines that divide us are no where near as strong as the ties that bind us; to help us recognize that as is said in the African saying: if you want to go fast, go alone but if you want to go far, go together.”
Booker is expected to be one of more than two dozen Democratic candidates who vie for the party’s presidential nomination.
