National Politics

Senator Cory Booker is coming to Beaufort County. Here’s when he’ll be here

New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker is scheduled to come to Beaufort County this weekend.
New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker is scheduled to come to Beaufort County this weekend. Special to The Island Packet/The Beaufort Gazette

After canceling a previously scheduled appearance at the tail end of the government shutdown, New Jersey Senator Cory Booker is scheduled to come to Beaufort this weekend during a tour through South Carolina.

The Democratic senator is stopping in town as part of his “On the Road” series, “connecting national Democratic voices with Democrats in every part of South Carolina,” according to an email from the South Carolina Democrats.

Booker will be in Beaufort County on Sunday from 1 to 3 p.m. to have conversations focused on the “skyrocketing cost of health care.” An exact location for the discussion will be announced closer to the event. Registration is required, but it doesn’t guarantee entry.

Booker will begin his tour in Edgefield County on Saturday, followed by Hampton and Barnwell counties on the same day. Beaufort will be his second-to-last stop on the tour, followed by Dorchester County on Sunday from 6 to 8 p.m.

The senator was previously scheduled to come to Beaufort County on Nov. 10 to discuss veterans’ issues and health care, but had to cancel because of the Senate vote to reopen the government during the longest shutdown in U.S. history. Congress passed a bill to reopen the government Nov. 10, ending the shutdown after 43 days.

Booker’s visit comes as the national Democratic Party debates its primary schedule for the 2028 presidential election. South Carolina hosted the nation’s first Democratic primary in 2024, a change from years past when it came third after the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary.

Booker, who has represented New Jersey in the Senate since 2013, ran for the Democratic nomination in the 2020 presidential election. He ended his campaign in January 2020, ahead of the South Carolina primary.

The 2020 Democratic nomination went to Joseph R. Biden Jr., who went on to win the general election and become the 46th president of the United States.

This story was originally published January 16, 2026 at 12:26 PM.

Laura Finaldi
The Island Packet
Laura Finaldi is an award-winning reporter and editor whose career has taken her everywhere from manufacturing companies in Massachusetts to dairy farms in rural Florida. Before joining the Island Packet in 2025, she was an editor at Homes.com in Richmond, Virginia and covered retail and tourism in Sarasota, Florida for five years. She has been published in the Worcester Business Journal, the Richmonder, Virginia Business, the Boston Globe and USA Today. 
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