Sen. Cory Booker clashes with Democrats over police funding bill
Sen. Cory Booker accused Senate Democrats of “colluding” with President Donald Trump during a debate on a bipartisan police funding bill.
With less than six months until the midterm elections, one Democratic senator is sounding the alarm about the party’s leadership and vision for the future.
In a conversation with Jake Tapper on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, May 24, days after the Democratic National Committee released its long-awaited autopsy of the 2024 election, Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) said the party is “in desperate need of new leadership.”
“We need to focus on the people, and the Democratic Party desperately needs new leadership. That’s what excites me about this cycle,” Booker said. “This is not only a new leadership, but a new vision for our party.”
New leaders and new leaders?
Booker named three Democrats he believes represent the future of the party: Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff, Texas Senate candidate James Talarico, and former North Carolina governor and current Senate candidate Roy Cooper.
“People are suffering, people are hurting, and they’re going to stand by their leaders,” Booker said. “And we’re seeing leaders in Talarico, in Ossoff, in Cooper, North Carolina, become more assertive and say, ‘I don’t care about the party. I care about the people.'” You can’t lead the people if the people don’t trust you, and that’s what’s missing in the party structure right now. ”
Asked if he still had “confidence” in Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Booker demurred.
“I tell people on the left and on the right that we’re five months away from the election,” Booker said. “What makes Republicans so happy is that within the Democratic Party, we’re talking about each other and not talking about the reality that the American people are facing.” “I’m tired of all the intrigue about party politics.”
Booker has previously advocated for ‘generational renewal’
Booker’s comments Sunday echo remarks he made in March when he appeared on “Meet the Press” while promoting his new book, “The Stand.”
At the time, Booker argued that the party needed a “generational shift” to bridge America’s increasingly partisan divide.
“I’m proud of a lot of the things my Democratic colleagues are doing, but collectively, our party is failing right now,” Booker told host Kristen Welker.
“It’s time for a new vision for our country that doesn’t divide us, but unites us and makes us more united,” Booker said. “I truly believe that this is a time when we need new leadership, a new moral imagination, to unite our country.”
What happened in the DNC’s 2024 autopsy?
Booker’s latest comments come days after the DNC released long-awaited autopsy results explaining former Vice President Kamala Harris’ loss to President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election.
The 192-page draft document outlines existing wisdom about the contest, with entire sections, such as the conclusion, left blank. However, he places some blame on former President Joe Biden’s White House politics, especially his failure to properly install Harris as the party’s standard-bearer.
DNC Chairman Ken Martin had been criticized by committee members for refusing to release the postmortem. He continued to support that choice for several months, saying it would be a distraction ahead of the midterm elections.
But he ultimately relented, writing in a May 21 post on Substack that withholding the document had caused “even more confusion,” while reiterating that it did not meet the party’s standards.
“I’m not proud of this product. This product doesn’t meet my standards and it won’t meet yours,” Martin said. “I do not support the contents of this report or anything that leaked from it. I could not in good faith put the DNC’s stamp of approval on this report. But transparency is paramount.”
Contributor: Phillip M. Bailey, america today.
Drew Pittock covers trending news from around the country for USA TODAY. He can be reached at DPittock@usatodayco.com.
