Votes in ways we struggle to perceive. Absolutely. We need to pass strong pries havey laws. And i have an internet bill of rights which articulates a few never ings we should know have our Data Collected in. The Cambridge Analytica case, facebook should immediately notify people when they were transferring their data. They didnt do that. People should have been able to inquire and informed what was happening to their data. F you watch communicators tonight at 8 00 eastern on cspan2. i ¿announcer now, democratic president ial candidate senator cory booker of new jersey talk to voters at a house party in exeter, New Hampshire. This is about 90 minutes. Hello, exeter, how are we doing . Verybody doing good . He would often delill into me since i was a little kid. He would say, john, just remember, youve got to leave the woodpile just a little higher than you found it. It was really actually it was interesting that dad chose a s because dad grew up in logging town. Dad didnt have a clue which end of an ax to hold. [laughter] but leaving the woodpile a little bit higher resonates with me particularly today in these times that were in because the man thats occupying the white house wants nothing more than to burn that woodpile down. So people ask me all the time, why corey . Why did you come out and endorse corey so early . I love when they ask me that question. I dont know im going to answer it this time. Is it that he was an amazing mayor in the midst of one of the countrys worgs receptions ever seen and came out of it being successful . [applause] maybe its going to be about how he has shown such incredible leadership in the United States senate particularly being willing to sit down with folks on the other side to pass historic criminal Justice Reform in this country. Thank you for that. Maybe its about the grit and resilience that he has demonstrated after decades of service in new jersey politics, something that is not easy for the faint of heart. Did yall know that he unseated a mayor who was incumbent for 29 years and was as rupt as they come . If that does not resonate with you right now, i dont know what is. You know, one of the biggest reasons why i decided to endorse snoort booker was because this election is about a hell of a lot more than just beating donald trump. It really is. This election is about who we are and who we are aspire to be as americans. I can not think of anybody else that i would entrust that sacred duty too. To lead us beyond this dark chapter of our history. Than my friend, my brother, senator corey booker. [cheers and applause] sen. Booker thank you very much. Thank you very much. This is awesome. To sue and tom who opened their home for me and for all of us, that is extraordinary that you would create a space for the community to come together. Please give them a round of applause. I am going to out sue because you are a jersey girl, born in maplewood. And they know that sometimes i start sweating when i am talking, and they have a pool right here. You guys heard from one of our mighty organizers here, and it is not easy to stand in front of crowds period. Hen i was a younger person, my biggest fear in life was being in front of crowds. But she just stood up and she not only talked about why she is endorsing and supporting me and working so hard, but she told her own truth. In a nation that still has failed in believing people when they come forward and tell their truth. And for her to take her pain and channel it into purpose, to stand up and understand that we need to listen to each other, understand each other and more important, we need to address the persistent injustices that exist. Would you please give her one more round of applause as well . [applause] sen. Booker where did david isappear to . There are two state senators i love, one is like silent bob, for crying out loud. Where is david . There he is. I want to thank david for coming forward and endorsing. We are the only campaign that has had state senators come forward and endorse, and that means extraordinary things to e. I want to thank them. We are guys that have women in our lives that are extraordinary, but we are not afraid to say we have a series an crush going on. I just want to say, katie, are you here, but . John . She is over at the house with the kids . Creating a vegan meal for me hen i get there tonight. Both of these guys have become friends. He has traveled. John has gone with me to iowa, it is extraordinary. When you endorse a man, you dont play around. I want to thank you for that, both of the state senators here, thank you. So you guys are in my roaming territory. Marianne, sorry about this, but just want to say this is what we are going to do. I will tell you about why i am running, and then lets have at it. Lets have open questions with anyone that wants to have a onversation. I understand that you scan cameras are here, so not only are there are 20 people here, but there is at least 16 people watching at home. 6, including my mom. So, mom, iam running because i believe in us. I believe that we, at this point in our nations history, cannot fall into the trap of defining ourselves by what we are against. We cant define ourselves by what we are against. We must talk about what we are for and who we are for. We are running against somebody that wants to make this ampaign all about him. I get frustrated and iam going to vent a little bit. The numberone polling issue right now is that, i just want someone to defeat donald trump. And i want to tell you right now, i think we should have bigger aspirations than hat. Beating donald gets us out of the valley, but not to the mountaintop. I am like you we all come from common ancestry, a common heritage and a common history. We all know this nation has been about values and principles. We have never been in our nations history free of demagoguery and hatemongers and ear mongers. Every generation has had that. What makes us unique, special as a country, we are not defined by that. We are defined by how we came together and overcame those things. Very generation think about it, mccarthyism, father coughlin, all the conflicts, there was an entire viable Political Party that rose up using the same rhetoric as this current president , and antiimmigration party called the knownothings. Back then, they were against the irish and the italians. And we overcame them. There is no monument to demagogues. There is no monument to hatemongers in our country. We overcame them by talking about who we are. Daily beat bull connor in birmingham by bringing bigger dogs and bigger fire horses and bigger fire hoses . No. E overcame that because we called to the moral imagination of a nation, the consciousness of a country. This is not a referendum on one guy in one office. It is a referendum on who we are and who we must be to each other. And we are all here, not because of the worst of our traditions, we are here because of the best, common sacrifice and common cause. People look at the lines that divided us like our race, religion, orientation, no, we are here because of the ties hat bind us. Because people understood that we can elevate leaders who understand. You cant lead the people if you dont love the people. Patriotism is the love of country but you cant love your country unless you love your fellow countrymen and women. [applause] sen. Booker let me tell you. Dont get me wrong. I have people saying, he is this new age guy no. Love is not a sentiment, not a kumbaya feeling, love is sacrifice, love is, if your kids dont have a Great Public School to go to, my kids are less off. If your kids dont have great health care, my family is less off. Ve is understanding that ustice everywhere is this. This tradition. Let me tell you real quick 50 years ago this summer, my parents were trying to move into my favorite new state, this is my second favorite new state sen. Booker they tried to move into new jersey but every time they showed up in our north easternmost county, they would see a black family coming to these neighborhoods with Great Schools and they would make up a lie, this house was sold, this house is pulled off the market. My parents were in istress. So my parents found a group of activists, diverse, mostly white folks who were patriots, who got together on weekends for their country and they said im sorry. Were going to welcome the stranger that we are not a country of hate, we are not defined by the darkness, we are always defined by our light. And they set up a sting operation. I call it a conspiracy of love. They basically said, hey, go out and look at a house, if you are told it is sold, we will send in a white couple right behind you and pretend they are omebuyers. That is what happened. The volunteer white couples, the house i grew up in, my parents were told it was sold, the volunteer white couple came, and they were told the house was still for sale. They acted like they loved the house. Look at this molding, look at this bathroom. They put a bid on the house. The bid was accepted, papers were drawn up, the closing was set, and at the Realtors Office on the day of the closing, the white couple did not show up, my dad did. Sen. Booker and a volunteer lawyer. And they walked in to confront the real estate agent. And theyo the front the agent and said it should be the end. It is not. Lawyer should have capitulated, but he did not. Punched myad, and he dad in the face. And let me tell you, growing up, every time my dad told the story, the dog would get bigger. Wolvesto fight a pack of to get you in this house when i was in yale, my dad was not impressed. Boy, you have got a lot of degrees, but you aint hotter than the month of july. He was proud when i moved to newark. That is americas storage it we stand up for each other, we invest in each other, we are not like other countries. Were not a theocracy. We did not all dissent from the same family tree. We believe in each other, founded on the idea that every generations fight, to put one indivisible , under god, and every in generation did that. Heck, 50 years ago, we were not only feeding jim crow, but we people on the moon. Our generation, we can defy gravity, too, but we cannot means standing up for each other. We still have a nation where we , whatot fully established most of us believe that health care is a right. And were going backwards. Day and age, if you work a fulltime job, you should not be in poverty. Here intry to do it nashua, a 12 minimum wage, because right now youre below the poverty line. There is not a county in america where you can work minimum wage and afford a two bedroom apartment. Not a county in america. This is why the issues i am working on are not intricate policy wise, they stand for common sense, that we treat each other with respect and dignity, we do not lock you up if you if youental o have Mental Illness or addiction. It is common sense to say, wait a minute, we have a crisis in america if 10 of america homels this is why i want to massively expand the earned income tax credit so that everybody in the state, literally 150 million working americans would get a tax break. We have got to see the struggles of each other. Everybody here, most people here may be homey who right now taking care of someone with alzheimers, a special needs child, working around the clock. They do not qualify for the earned income tax credit now, but if i president of the United States, they, too, will get credit from the government to make sure we support them in their hard work. [applause] sen. Booker is you are born in we should say a birthright in america is that every child has an interestbearing savings account. My savings bonds bill would put 1000 into the account of every child commanded is based upon the income of your parents, you can get up to 2000 in your account. By the time you are 18, you the would income americans have 50,000 to invest in college, in buying a home, starting a business, to do the things for equality, racial, equality, for a foundation of success. Renters in america, there are too many people being priced out of towns where their families have lived for years. You are paying more than one third of your income on rent. You should get a great. I hope we get and into policy are, but if you want to know the theme of why i am running, is the idea that we have to invest in each other again. We have to stand up for the common good and the common purpose, because our competitors are doing it. Look around the globe, and you will see the cost of college in germany is well below the medium income. The cost of college in germany 2. [laughter] sen. Booker that hair. [laughter] incomeoker 7 of median to go to college. Here in america, between 50 and 60 . Our competitors know that hey, if you want to see the most valuable resource, it is not oil, gas, or coal, it is our children [laughter] [applause] sen. Booker we used to be the best investors and planet earth, but now other countries are out and vesting us. Were the only country that does not have paid family leave. Because other countries understand that if you are going to raise children, you have got to prioritize them. Others have prenatal care. Inave advanced nations we have got to step back and start thinking about what happened to us. I will give you all an example that you can relate to. We have watched over the last decade, china built 18,000 miles of highspeed rail, in the busiest rail corridor in north america goes between boston and washington, d. C. , and it runs half an hour slower than it did in the 1960s. [laughter] sen. Booker and you all in the state are still debating cute mete commuter rails down to bos. We used understand that the fights in this country were common cause, purpose. If you want to go fast, go alone , but if you want to go far, go together. [applause] sen. Booker so i am telling you right now, i want everyone to think about your head, and this is an election where you want to see the policy plan and kick the tires. Hel we all have different ideas that are valuablel, but this is a campaign that is not just about the head, it is about the heart, the spirit, the soul of our country, and that is why i have got to do the truth telling. If a candidate only tells you what you want to hear, you should think he is selling you something. If you want someone was going to fight fire with fire, it aint me. I ran a fire department. It is not a good strategy. 100 people there, and that a big guy sees me, he comes over to me, a former tight end, former allamerican Football Player you know, the older i get, the better i was [laughter] sen. Booker he puts his arm around me, and he goes dude, i want you to punch donald trump in the face and i look at him, and i go dude, that is a felony [laughter] sen. Booker i want to show you how you beat guys like donald trump, a guy who wants you to fight him on his terms, his turf, using his tactics. That is not how we are going to when this election. A king said something so profound, what we have to repent vitriol ofbegin to al the words, it is the interaction of the good people. We are the good people. The majority of this country do in this. Faith this is a referendum on us. This is a time where we cannot just focus on one guy, because in communities like mine, living in a low income community, below the poverty line, my Community Needs a lot more than just beating donald trump, with lead in our waters, you guys know this, pfas, 3000 jurisdictions in america with children with twice the blood lead levels as flip, michigan. Worke on my block who to fulltime jobs and still have to go to the bodega in their neighborhood and use food stamps to feed their families. These are issues before donald trump. Seven people shot in my neighborhood just in the last two weeks. Boston just had a bloody stretch. These problems are not bigger than us, but i will tell you what gives us strength. It is not just a demagogue in washington. What gives us strength is that we are tearing ourselves apart as a country right now. There is a tribalism that literally, if you look at the russians and their tactics and strategies, they know to undermine our democracy is to divide us against each other. And this is why i am running for a Larger Movement than just one office and one person. I am running for the movement of our nation, to continue the cause of our country, to try to unite people and create. A new american majority. That does not mean all democrats. A new american of majority means we can reach up to independents, and, hell, even some republicans feared the crisis is too great for Climate Change, the Immigration Crisis at our border, these are be solvedhat cannot with one faction against each other. We need to unify into a bigger majority in this country to get back to common sense and common cause, and this is a story i want to end on, that note. What excites me everything other than i get to come out and talk to folks about who we are and the truth of our past and the promise of our future, this really is it is not a new story, because it is the second half of the story i already told you. I got to the senate, and i decided to do what a lot of senators do who have a high self regard, i decided to write a book. And if your name is booker, it is a lot of pressure, ya. [laughter] sen. Booker so i decided to go back to finding activists, like you all, who met on weekends, like we are, and fought on housing price. And i will tell you what, the head of the group of the Housing Council was a woman emilie named billy porter, orter, and she was really easy to find fears she does not represent black folks, she represents samesex couples, americans with disabilities who in ourll denied rights country, because for her, justice has no color, no race, no religion, there is one justice, one nation, one love, and when i go and talk to her and she confirmed a lot of the facts of the story it was not a pack of wolves, people. [laughter] sen. Booker she said look, you need to talk to the lawyer who organized everything, and i go to find him, and he is a retired new jersey state judge. I called up, and we had a conversation, and i suddenly got all the questions i needed for the chapter in my book, but then he said something to me that shook me and reaffirmed my lifes purpose. And this is not about position, guys, it is about purpose. And when he told me this, i was so inspired, i said to him why would you help black families move at your neighborhood, sir, when you just told me you were struggling to make it . You had just come out of law school, you were barely making law school. Why would you do it . And he said to me, cory, i remember the moment i made the decision. 1965. March 7, some of you might know the date, but when he said that to me, i do not know what that date was. Ory, i wasained, c sitting home at the end of a long week, sitt