Incumbent Sen. Cory Booker survived against a progressive challenger in New Jersey’s Democratic Senate primary.
Booker faced off against little-known Lawrence Hamm, founder and chairman of the People’s Organization for Progress, which works for social, racial and economic justice. Hamm’s “Not Me. Us,” was the same slogan used by Sen. Bernie Sanders in his presidential campaign.
Booker is one of only three Black senators and recently has been a vocal leader in the police reform debate on Capitol Hill. Ahead of the primary, Booker had run for president but ended his bid in January.
Although Booker, who first arrived to the Senate in 2013, was expected to win, the primary challenge came at a time when progressive candidates, such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, have successfully bested establishment-backed Democrats. Most recently, progressive candidate Jamaal Bowman leads in the primary against Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., a 16-term incumbent and the House Foreign Affairs Committee chair who received endorsements from establishment Democrats like Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer.
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