Murphy, Katz will lead national Booker fundraising call

Cory Booker will get fundraising help from Phil Murphy and George Norcross in the same week.

Murphy will headline a national fundraising call on Thursday with Drew Katz, whose late father, Lewis Katz, was a close ally of Norcross before the two became bitter rivals after purchasing the Philadelphia Inquirer together.

Booker has been relying on Murphy, who started out in national politics as the Democratic National Committee Finance Chairman in 2008, to boost his bid for the presidency the day after the first debate.

Murphy held a high-dollar Booker fundraiser at his home earlier this year.  The governor traveled to Iowa this month to stump for Booker in a move the campaign hoped might aide the New Jersey senator’s progressive bonafides.

The involvement of Katz is another signal of Booker’s ability to remain close ties with Murphy and Norcross, who are embroiled in a bitter and hugely personal political feud.  

Norcross is hosting a Booker fundraiser in Belleville on Friday with Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo and famed criminal defense lawyer Michael Critchley.

Noah Mamet, a former U.S. Ambassador to Argentina under President Barack Obama and a veteran Democratic fundraiser from California, will also be on the fundraising call.