![]() ![]() “Both parties have been implicated in ignoring a lot of the challenges that we face,” says Booker. So how do we do that but not lie to folks?”īeyond building a base among Democrats, Booker says he wants a coalition that transcends political parties and elects more rural people and Americans of color to political office who can demand real structural change. “He was lying, but he was acknowledging that people are suffering. ![]() “He was talking about the coal industry and he was saying he’d bring the jobs back,” says Booker. It wasn’t because of racism or bigotry, according to Booker, but because Trump was able to speak to the economic pain that many Kentuckians feel. He contends that’s one reason why former President Donald Trump proved so popular in the commonwealth. “So we’re lifting up new leaders, we’re training folks to get involved in the democratic process.”īooker says politicians talk at Kentuckians more than they listen to them. “It’s realizing that the voices of people in forgotten places – the hood where I’m from, the hollers in Appalachia, and everywhere in between – that those voices are a pathway to a brighter future,” says Booker. In just eight months, Booker says the group has signed up 11,000 volunteers from every county in the state. In the wake of that campaign, Booker formed a nonprofit organization called the Hood to the Holler, which he describes as a “barrier breaking, coalition building, people-powered movement” to unite urban and rural Kentuckians and transform politics. People that had voted for Trump, people that had given up were realizing that if we fight together, if we lean into our love for one another and not hate and division, if we acknowledge racism and come together anyhow, that we can do big things, even in a place like Kentucky.” Uniting People from the Hood to the Holler “Folks that had never voted before were banging on the doors to vote. “We inspired people to believe that things can be different,” says Booker. Still he told his supporters they had achieved a crucial victory. Soon the race was too close to call, and in some polling Booker even edged ahead.īut in the end, the former Marine Corps fighter pilot won with 45.4 percent of the Democratic vote to Booker’s 42.6 percent. And Louisville police shot and killed Breonna Taylor while serving a no-knock warrant, leading to weeks of protests across the commonwealth.īooker’s prominent role in many of those demonstrations helped boost his profile in the crowded Senate field, and the delayed primary gave his campaign more time to cut into McGrath’s lead. State officials then delayed the primary elections from May 19 to June 23. ![]() The COVID-19 pandemic hit and all but shut down traditional campaigning. CHARLES BOOKER SERIESHe also had a platform that included the Green New Deal and universal basic income, which many pundits saw as too progressive for Kentucky voters.īut a series of events upended the race. He faced a 10-way Democratic primary in which McGrath, who had massive funding and the support of the national Democratic establishment, was the clear frontrunner. In 2018 he was elected to the state House of Representative.īooker was serving his first term as a state representative from West Louisville when he entered the race to challenge then-U.S. He was director of personnel and administrative services for the state Department of Fish and Wildlife in the Steve Beshear Administration. “We have the ability to tell a new story for Kentucky, and I want to do my part in that.” Seeing Victory in DefeatĬharles Booker is a native of West Louisville and a graduate of the University of Louisville. “I’m strongly considering a run for United States Senate in 2022 because I believe our work is not done,” says Booker. Rand Paul when he comes up for reelection. No longer unknown, Charles Booker hopes to parlay the profile he built in the 2020 campaign and as a voice for social justice to possibly challenge U.S. Senate seat last year, a relative unknown came within 15,000 votes of defeating the heavily funded favorite, Amy McGrath. In the Democratic primary for Kentucky’s U.S. ![]()
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