Cory Booker has been a U.S. senator representing New Jersey since 2013, but he accomplished much more before he went to Capitol Hill. 

Booker attended Stanford University on a football scholarship. During his time at Stanford, he also served as a peer crisis counselor. He also mentored students at a nearby middle school.

He then studied at Oxford University, and graduated from Yale Law School in 1997. 

After graduating, he didn’t go to work for a law firm. Instead, he moved to Newark, Nj. and teamed up with other tenants to take on a landlord accused of intentional property neglect. He won his case. 

He then became a city councilmember, and eventually the mayor of Newark. He won the election with 72 percent of the vote. 

As mayor, Booker fought curb crime, reinvigorating the town’s economy and forming a diverse group to listen to resident concerns. 

Booker still currently lives in Newark. 

In 2018, he co-wrote and passed the First Step Act, a bipartisan bill to make reforms to the criminal justice system and begin to reverse the injustices of mass incarceration. 

This year, he reintroduced the Marijuana Justice Act. This bill would legalize marijuana, medical and recreational, at a federal level. 

It would also help those who have already been convicted of marijuana-related charges, especially people of color and those in low income communities.

When he kicked off his presidential campaign earlier this year, Booker said, “I believe we can build a country where no one is forgotten, no one is left behind. Together, we will channel our common pain back into our common purpose. Together, America, we will rise.”

According to the New York Times, Booker is currently polling in ninth place with two percent.

For more information, visit Corybooker.com