Tonight was a big night for New Jersey on the national stage, with both U.S. Senator Cory Booker and Rep. Andy Kim (D-Moorestown) – who may himself soon be a U.S. Senator – speaking at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago.
Booker, a DNC co-chair who served as something of an emcee for the night, spoke a number of times throughout the convention to introduce other speakers, lambaste Republican nominee Donald Trump, and pay tribute to the late Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-Paterson). But the centerpiece of Booker’s remarks came at around 8 p.m., when he forcefully defended the possibility of American unity and led the crowd in chants of “I believe in America.”
“I believe in America, where we share common ground and common cause, and one common destiny,” Booker said. “And let me tell you, if you believe in America, if you love in America, then you will work for America. And when we work together, when we stand together, when we organize together, when we vote together, I will tell you this: when we fight, we win!”
Booker said that Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, are people who share that vision of America.
“In America, you can’t lead the people if you don’t love the people – all the people,” he said. “Our nominees, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz – they bring the joy. They’re descendants of immigrants, shopkeepers, slaves, educators. People who faced pain with perseverance; people who met hate with love. They are the living dream of their ancestors. But look in this arena; look around you right now. We are all our ancestors’ wildest dreams.”
Kim, meanwhile, centered his own address around the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, which occurred shortly after he was sworn into a second term in the House from a swing district in South Jersey. The morning after the attack, Kim was photographed cleaning up the Capitol Rotunda, a moment that won him admirers around the country.
“When I was a kid, my parents brought me to the Capitol. They taught me that it’s sacred ground, a symbol of our democracy,” Kim said. “But [on January 6], we saw something unimaginable: a mob tearing down flags, assaulting police officers. That night, I walked into the Rotunda. The floor was covered in broken glass and garbage, strewn with the chaos unleashed by Donald Trump, and I thought to myself, ‘How did it get this bad?’ So I did the only thing I could think of: I grabbed a trash bag and started cleaning up.”
Kim, who is favored to beat Republican Curtis Bashaw this November for the Senate seat held until recently by disgraced Senator Bob Menendez, insisted that Democrats must fight to leave the country better off for the next generation.
“What I learned on January 6 is that all of us – all of us – are caretakers for our great republic,” he said. “We can heal this country, but only if we try. Many of you are doing your part, through your voices and your votes. Always remember, this chaos that we see – it doesn’t have to be this way.”