Sen. Cory Booker fires up crowd at California Democratic Party Convention
Sen. Cory Booker fires up crowd at California Democratic Party Convention
It was nowhere near as long as the 25-hour record-setting speech he gave on the floor of the U.S. Senate in April in protest of President Donald Trump and his administration.
In fact, U.S. Sen. Cory Booker spoke for just under 15 minutes — a short speech by comparison.
But in remarks that fired up delegates at the California Democratic Party’s convention on Saturday, May 31, nonetheless, the senior senator from New Jersey — who ran for president in 2020 and has been talked about as a potential presidential candidate again in 2028 — invoked the famous words of the late civil rights icon John Lewis by urging the American public to get into “some good trouble.”
Booker credited people who came before him, including his grandparents who lived in California, for fighting to make things better for the generations that came after them. Booker then called on those in the audience to do the same for future generations.
In many ways, Saturday’s talk was a truncated version of the marathon speech that the senator gave in April. He repeated many of the same points, which drew some of the loudest cheers from Saturday’s audience.
“Real change does not come from Washington. It comes from communities. It comes from the streets. It comes from the people who’s standing up and have shown over and over again — against the powerful, against the elected, against the rich — that the power of the people is greater than the people in power,” Booker said to applause.
Booker ended his remarks by rousing the crowd to its feet.
“California, will you stand up?” he asked, prompting those at the Anaheim Convention Center to rise from their seats.
“Will you stand up for health care? … Will you stand up to Donald Trump?” Booker continued, as cheers from the crowd drowned out parts of his speech.
“If we stand, we can make our ancestors proud,” he concluded. “Together, we shall overcome.”
The California Democratic Party Convention, held this year in Anaheim, kicked off in earnest on Friday and will wrap up on Sunday. Convention organizers said an estimated 4,000 people registered to attend events throughout the weekend.
Other elected officials who spoke Saturday morning included U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff; Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Long Beach; Rep. Derek Tran, D-Orange; state Senate Pro Tem Mike McGuire, D-North Coast; and Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, D-Salinas.
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