Cory Booker speaks on virtues, compassion, commitment in Hampton, N.H.

HAMPTON, NH — Two young girls raised their posters high, cheerily chanting “Cory! Cory!” beneath the roaring applause of over 100 people gathered to hear Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), 2020 presidential candidate, speak at Tilton Brothers Brewery this afternoon.

Cory Booker speaking at Tilton Brothers Brewing. SARAH READDEAN

Booker, who announced his campaign in February, shared the spirit of his late mentor, Frank Hutchins, who taught him that people deserve to be seen and heard, repeating “I see you and I love you” – the last words Hutchins, spoke to him.

“That is the test of our nation right now,” Booker yelled. “Do we really see each other?”

The fourth black person elected to the Senate and the only senator living in a low-income neighborhood – by choice – Booker sees first-hand many of the issues he rallies for.

In seeing, in campaigning throughout New Hampshire, in hearing real-life stories, Booker said he has become a better candidate.

“Statistics tell,” Booker said. “Stories sell.”

“[This election] is about the fact that now in America, when people die in a synagogue in Pittsburgh or a church in South Carolina, nothing changes,” Booker said.

Pounding his fist on the table, Booker continued, “When we see our children being killed in schools from Newtown to Parkland, being shot one by one under desks and the majority of us agree, 90 percent, that we should change laws, but nothing happens.”

Booker told the cheering crowd that he is running not just because he knows he can beat President Trump, but to unite Americans.

“Beating Donald Trump gets us out of the valley,” Booker said. “But it doesn’t get us to the mountaintop.”

“Can’t we remember that this nation is not a nation of tolerance,” Booker said. With an increasingly passionate intensity, he continued, “Tolerance turns the other cheek. Love embraces. Tolerance causes [us] grief. Love engages. Tolerance builds walls. Love tears them down. Tolerance couldn’t care less. Love couldn’t care more.”

During his speech, Booker said voter turnout is key to winning the election.

“Hillary Clinton would be president right now if we had the same voter turnout we had four years before her,” Booker said. “I’m not going to lose [the] election because the African American turnout goes down. I want the Obama-level turnout.”

“This is not a dark time that we can’t beat with our light,” Booker said. “This is not a time of hate that we can’t overcome with our love.”

Joe Chase, co-owner of Tilton Brothers Brewery, where the event was held, said the brewery serves as a gathering place where people can come together.

“In New Hampshire, this time of every election season, it’s really important to have places where people can come together and share ideas,” Chase said. “We like to think of our brewery as a place where people can do that and [meet] all sorts of different people from all backgrounds.”

Carolyn Berner, 59, a registered Democrat from Stratham N.H., has seen at least four Democratic candidates speak this election season, and said it was inspiring to hear someone speak with so much passion.

Berner said the main thing she hopes to see in the new president is change.

“Civility, compassion, intelligence, inclusion,” Berner said. “I have high expectations for things to resume to normalcy.”

Renée Giffroy, a New Hampshire photographer who covers many candidate speeches and debates, said the underlying thing she sees people looking for in a candidate is someone who “can beat Trump.”

“The biggest thing that any candidate can do at this point is bring the public together,” Giffroy said. “That’s the thing that’s lacking and that’s the root of many of our problems.”

Giffroy said the role of the media is important in mobilizing voters. She said it’s important for young voters to listen to all the candidates and understand everyone’s position because it’s easy to “put people in buckets.”

“All of a sudden, the differences become bigger,” Giffroy said. “The only way we’re going to win is to get a lot of voters to actually go out there and vote, not just talk about it.”

The media is “absolutely critical,” Booker said privately when leaving the venue, and said he hopes the media is not deterred from being active and engaged in the election.

“The president says it is the enemy of the people,” Booker said. “I think it actually helps to save this democracy by holding up a truth and asking questions and getting information out there.”

“You have a lot of choices to make,” Booker said at the end of his speech. “The 2020 election doesn't stand for the year; it stands for the number of people running.”

“I will dream America new again, and like my ancestors, it will be a divine dream, a daring dream,” Booker said. “If we do that together, if this election is about that continuing campaign, you will not perish in the pit. We will rise.”