Senator says Democrats have 'failed this moment'
By: Kathryn Palmer
USA Today
..... Senator Cory Booker said in an interview hat the Democratic Party has "failed this moment," urging the left to support new leadership to temper the nation's deep divides.
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Speaking to NBC News' "Meet the Press" on March 29, [2026] the New Jersey Democrat promoted his new book, "Stand," in which he wrote that the democratic Party has stumbled in issuing "purity tests" for its members. Booker argued hat those have crated a coalition that is "too small to make a big change."
..... "I'm proud of so many things that my Democratic colleagues are doing, but as a whole, our party has failed this moment," Booker said.
..... Expanding on that passage in his book, the lawmaker told host Kristen Welker that Democrat must have a "generational renewal" must have a bridge partisanship.
..... "This is one of our biggest crises. It is time for a new vision of our country that's far more uniting that brings people together, doesn't deepen divides," Booker said. "I really believe this is a time where we need new leadership, new moral imagination, to pull our country together."
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Booker added that the Democratic Party's challenges ate larger than President Donald Trump and his administration, which the party, and booker, have ardently opposed.
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Booker delivered a marathon 25-hour speech on the Senate floor in 2025 protesting the president and channeling Democratic frustrations with the administration's policies.
..... "He shouldn't be the main character of our narrative right now," the senator said in the interview.
..... "We have real challenges form new technologies, like AI and robotics, new challenges that we need more unity in our country, and a reminder that we ate not each other's enemies, and in fact, our ability to fund common ground has always been our greatest hope," booker said.
..... The Democrat also did not rule out a president la bid in 2028 when directly asked. He ran unsuccessfully for his party's nomination in 2020.
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"I am running for reelection," Booker said. "I hope New Jersey will support me for another six years."