Cory Booker is running for president

New Jersey’s Cory Booker is a candidate for the Democratic nomination for president.

Booker will skip the exploratory phase and has launched his campaign this morning in an e-mail to supporters that includes his first campaign video.

The two-term United States Senator and former mayor of Newark will appear on ABC’s The View later this morning to discuss his campaign.

“I believe that we can build a country where no one is forgotten, no one is left behind; where parents can put food on the table; where there are good paying jobs with good benefits in every neighborhood; where our criminal justice system keeps us safe, instead of shuffling more children into cages and coffins; where we see the faces of our leaders on television and feel pride, not shame,” Booker said in his video.  “It is not a matter of can we, it’s a matter of do we have the collective will, the American will? I believe we do.”

Booker is expected to campaign in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina – the sites of the first three contests of the 2020 presidential campaign – this month.

The campaign – Cory 2020 – will make announcements in the coming days on key staff appointments.

The Hill, a Washington-based political newspaper, reported on Thursday evening that Booker was making calls to Democratic House and Senate members.