Looking past outcome, Booker pledges he’ll return to help SC Democrats win in 2020
Beaufort resident Diane Schmid is all in for Cory Booker.
A New Jersey native, Schmid told The State on Saturday that the U.S. senator from her home state is the “real deal” and she plans to cast her Feb. 29 Democratic presidential primary vote for the former Newark mayor regardless of how well he’s polling in the 2020 race.
“He is my guy,” said Schmid, 75, while watching Booker take selfies with voters at the Colleton Civic Center in Walterboro on Saturday.
Still, Schmid said she doesn’t think Booker’s chances look good.
“But that’s OK,” she said holding a copy of Booker’s autobiography. “I want to keep him on the national stage so when his time comes — because this isn’t it and I know that — but he’s the real deal and I want to see him go further in politics and ... he can, just not this time.”
South Carolina Democratic voters in Walterboro and Allendale said on Saturday that they aren’t paying much attention to who wins in Iowa and New Hampshire, two early-voting states that could spell the end for some of the presidential hopefuls or could be what boosts one to the nomination.
And for many of Booker’s most loyal backers, they said they couldn’t care less that he missed the December primary debate and could miss future debates, including South Carolina’s on Feb. 25 in Charleston.
“I think he is going to be the candidate,” said Walterboro resident Mary Washington, 69, a retired teacher’s assistant who brought her two granddaughters to hear Booker speak on Saturday. “My mind is made up for him right now. If it doesn’t happen, I have a Plan B.”
That backup plan is former Vice President Joe Biden, Washington said.
Since he declared his candidacy on the first day of Black History Month last February, Booker’s messaging in the state hasn’t changed.
He still speaks of unity. He still speaks of love. He still reiterates calls for better civility to move the country forward.
His veteran S.C. staff is still by his side, and Booker is still touring some of the state’s most remote counties to share his background.
But in his first two stops back to South Carolina for his time since the new year, Booker looked past Feb. 29, promising voters he will return to the Palmetto State and help Democratic candidates running for office win, including U.S. Senate hopeful Jaime Harrison.
Despite his reverence for President Barack Obama, Booker acknowledged that coming back to communities across the country, including South Carolina, to aggressively help build up excitement for Democratic Party elections is not something Obama did, pointing to a lack of voter turnout in midterm elections.
“I really do revere Barack Obama; I think he (was) an extraordinary candidate,” Booker told The State in a sit-down interview late Saturday. However, he said, Obama did not return to South Carolina until after his re-election in 2012. “And more than that, when they came into office, they didn’t invest in the way I think they should have in building the Democratic Party in all 50 states.”
To break the logjam, particularly in the U.S. Senate held by a Republican majority, Booker said 2020 is where it starts.
“Beating Donald Trump is the floor, it’s not the ceiling,” Booker said. “It gets us out of a valley; it doesn’t get us to the mountaintop.”
This story was originally published January 5, 2020 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Looking past outcome, Booker pledges he’ll return to help SC Democrats win in 2020."
