Cory Booker Refuses to Answer When Asked If He Supports Zohran Mamdandi

Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) spoke to CNN’s Manu Raju about the future of the Democratic Party for a segment that ran on Raju’s show on Sunday. Raju pressed Booker to weigh in on the Democrat’s nominee for mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani, but was unable to get Booker’s take on him one way or another.

“I’m wondering if part of the issue with your party, do you think, is not embracing enough of the energy on the left flank of your party? You’re seeing what’s happening in your neighboring state in New York. Zohran Mamdani, he’s the Democratic candidate, Democratic socialist candidate there. Democratic leaders are not supporting him. Is that a problem? Do you support him?” Raju asked during the interview.

“So you and I are going to have this conversation, and I’m going to say to you one day, I told you so. This is not a left-right issue. It really isn’t. It is an authoritarian versus people who want pragmatic government that makes a difference in the lives of American people,” Booker replied, adding:

I’m one of these people that says the lines that divide us in America are not nearly as strong as the ties that bind us. Big corporations, people want to keep our eyes on the screen, want to pit us against each other and tell us how much we should hate each other. I am sorry. The left-right lens is not the right lens to look at this right now. Right now it is: Can we get back to the pragmatic work of governing?

“Mamdani, are you going to support him?” Raju tried one more time.

“I have learned a long time ago: Let New York politics be New York politics. We’ve got enough challenges in Jersey. I got a governor’s race. I’m supporting Mikie Sherrill. I got legislative races. That’s where my energy is going to go going into November. New York City, I love you. You’re my neighbor. You’re about 10 miles from where I live. You guys figure out your elections. I’m going to focus on mine,” Booker said, explicitly dodging the question.

“Let’s just get on the issue of policing, because that was an issue of, obviously, what part of the issue that you fought on the floor about. You’ve been really involved on that issue. He, Mamdani, he had a tweet from earlier this that’s gotten surface, gotten a lot of attention this week about defunding the police. That was from a few years ago. Are statements like that still problematic for your party?” Raju followed up, trying to nail Booker down on the topics surrounding Mamdani.

“I think, again, I’m going to speak for Jersey. Newark, New Jersey, a majority black city, five days after the George Floyd incident, if you had polled my city and said, ‘Do you want more police, less police, or the same amount of police?’ Newark would have overwhelmingly voted for more police,” replied Booker, adding:

We don’t want police violating our rights. We don’t want police endangering our lives, but we want safety and security as the fundamental foundation of Maslow’s pyramid. We want to have security in our community, and the police are part of that. An essential part of that equation.

So anybody who’s saying “defund the police” is wrong, and within the Democratic party or within the nation, I will always fight that. We have well-funded, well-trained, and highly accountable, high professional standard police departments that protect us.

Watch the clip above via CNN.