By Don Dike Anukam
On Friday, while making his second campaign tour through Northern Nevada as a presidential candidate, United States Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) made a stop in Minden earlier in the day speaking to the Douglas County Democratic Party. He then arrived at the Washoe County Democratic Party central office on Terminal Way to talk to about 150 curious attendees.
In the hour-plus long event, the junior senator from New Jersey took several questions from members of the local and national press before speaking to the audience in a packed office.
During the press conference, Booker answered a question regarding affordable housing and the challenges he proposes to tackle if elected president.
He also talked about solutions he is working on in Washington, as well as his experiences as mayor of Newark, New Jersey.
“As mayor, I doubled the production of affordable housing [and] brought on considerably more, expanding the pipeline in our community,” he said. “So I have a lot of things very specific to address housing issues in my platform.
“First and foremost, something I’m going to talk about in there is the Rise Tax Credit, which puts upwards of $8,000 back towards into the pockets working family members. Number two: Make an additional housing tax credit to make up … what they can pay in median rents.”
The senator struck a hopeful theme and argued that this had to be a campaign about ideas and issues.
He then told the story of his upbringing and how his parents were able to get their first home despite being discriminated against, because of the color of their skin, and real estate agents refusing to sell or offer them homes in predominantly white neighborhoods.
He stressed, however, that love can motivate for good.
Booker answered a range of questions — from education, climate change, immigration, affordable housing, healthcare, and youth involvement. The senator appeared to be well received by the party faithful.
