LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Nearly exactly one year after his bid for the United States Senate failed in the Democratic primary, Charles Booker officially presented his new candidacy Thursday, hoping that this time he will od. Acting Republican Sen. Rand Paul in 2022.
Booker is expected to announce his candidacy at a noon rally in Louisville’s predominantly black West End neighborhood of the district he represented for a term in the Kentucky House of Representatives.
In an interview Wednesday with The Courier Journal about his new Senate candidacy, Booker said his crusade would be based on the issues and issues of his 2020 candidacy and the nonprofit advocacy organization Hood to the Holler he formed in his wake.
Booker formed an exploratory committee for a possible race in April, saying he would travel the state and pay attention to Kentuckyns to assess whether there was enough to allow him to win a run opposite Paul, who says he will run for a third term.
“What we started, the story I told in my previous career, the story that the other people of Kentucky knew we had to finish telling,” Booker said. “And this is the one that says we’re in a position to come in combination across race, class, geography, that we’re in a position to fight for structural change, and we’re in a position to do more than just fight. “
A big outsider last year in the number one Democrat opposed to Amy McGrath, who spent a lot and had the help of the National Party status quo, the support for Booker’s decidedly progressive crusade has been highest in the last month, only down 3 percentage points. of anger . . .
While he also spent more than Sen. Mitch McConnell on the general election, McGrath ousted through the Senate Republican leader in the November election, a no unusual outcome for the state’s Democratic candidates over the past decade as Kentucky continues its political turn to the right.
While some Kentucky Democrats, a centrist candidate is the only one who can win a statewide race in the existing political climate, Booker says his exclusive politics will create an unconventional path to victory.
“I know for sure we’re going to eliminate Rand Paul,” Booker said. “The road to victory is at the heart of our redefinition of our politics. “
More: Kentucky’s Charles Booker looks to build on his momentum in ’21 and beyond
While he pledged in his latest crusade to interact and pay attention to Kentuckyns “from community to embers,” Booker said he would not take any dominance for granted and would break traditional partisan politics to triumph in an electorate that forgets his party. .
“Rationing insulin, as I had to do, is not partisan. Putting food on the table, being safe at home, those disorders are not partisan,” Booker said. “And if we can say that fact and show that we’re fighting the same battles, so we deserve to fight together, it’s an opportunity to go beyond the party, to literally build this coalition based on those kinds of ties. “
While the National Party status quo, like the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, put its finger on McGrath’s scales in last year’s primary, Booker said through the conversations he had, he hopes “national leaders respect and perceive that it’s up to us to lead the way. “
“It’s transparent that they recognize my leadership, they perceive that I built the infrastructure,” Booker said. “We’re building this for the other people of Kentucky, and everyone who’s willing to us, and actually pushes us away, appreciates it. “than. “
Related: Rand Paul visits Kentuckyns and criticizes socialism on the eve of Charles Booker’s announcement
There has been very little discussion about other prominent Democratic names entering the Senate race, political neophyte Ruth Gao, who is running, said Wednesday.
Booker said he hoped to ensperate Democratic officials across the state for his campaign, but hopes the state’s legislative leaders will be there to help in his release rally Thursday.
While some of the same crusade staff will return, Booker says his leadership team will come with two women who helped move Georgia from red to blue in 2020: Dasheika Ruffin, senior advisor to Sen. Raphael Warnock’s successful crusade, and manager of the Bianca Keaton crusade. who is chairman of the Gwinnett County Democratic Party in Georgia.
When Booker announced his exploratory committee, Paul’s crusade and the Republican National Senate Committee issued nearly the same statements saying he was out of step with the values of Kentuckyns, failing to fund the police and take away their gun rights, with the NRSC calling him “a proud socialist. “
Paul’s crusade also touted the endorsement of former President Donald Trump, who won Kentucky through explosive margins in 2016 and 2020, the senator had “a proven track record of fighting Washington’s liberal calendar. “
News: Donald Trump backs Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul for re-election in 2022
Booker said the current climate of hate and concern is “fed and armed in a very disturbing way, where they say quiet parties out loud, and Rand Paul was the champion. “
“It’s a smokescreen, it’s a worry tactic,” Booker said. “It’s a purpose to keep the other people of Kentucky, the other people of our country divided fighting among us, so they can laugh at the bank, they can continue to maintain strength at our expense. “
Booker said he was convinced he would not only surprise many political observers by defeating Rand Paul, but would “build infrastructure in our long run at the local, state and federal levels. “
Booker said he is about to finish writing his memoirs, which will be early next year, and that he expects his third daughter, Justyce, to be born “in a few weeks. “
Contact journalist Joe Sonka on jsonka@courierjournal. com and stay with him on Twitter at @joesonka. Support strong local journalism by registering in the most sensible part of this page.