Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., on Sunday said he is not ruling out the prospect of running for president in 2028, but said that he is focused on running for reelection to the Senate this year.
Asked wether he’d be open to running for president, Booker told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” that he is “definitely not ruling it out,” but “I’m running for re-election. I hope New Jersey will support me for another six years.”
Booker has served in the Senate since 2013 and has already run for president once, in the 2020 presidential election cycle. That year, he dropped out of the Democratic presidential primary in early January, citing a lack of funds to continue his campaign. Then-former Vice President Joe Biden went on to win the Democratic presidential nomination and the presidency that year.
But Booker has fueled rumors over the last several years that he could run again. The senator raised $10 million for his campaign account and an affiliated joint fundraising committee which included the period after he delivered a record-breaking speech for 25 hours and 5 minutes on the Senate floor.
And last week, Booker released a new book, “Stand,” that he is promoting with a nationwide book tour, further prompting speculation that he may run for president again in 2028.
His remarks on “Meet the Press” weren’t the first time he’s failed to rule out another presidential run, telling former Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison’s podcast in February that he had “not dismissed the idea of running for president again in ‘28.”
Booker, who married to his wife, Alexis Lewis, last year, said they both realize “what’s at stake” for future generations when asked whether she’d be supportive of a potential presidential campaign.
“I think what she’s supportive of now is, number one, we both are excited about being married and hopeful for a family, but she knows what’s at stake,” the senator said.
He added later, “she and I talk a lot about, in the coming months, we just want to be a part of a generation of Americans that helps to redeem the dream.”
Booker also spoke about his desire for the Democratic party in 2028 to be less restrictive about enforcing purity tests and setting ideological standards for candidates.
“I’m proud of so many things that my Democratic colleagues are doing, but as a whole, our party has failed this moment,” Booker told “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker.
“This left-right divide is killing our country, and our adversaries know it. They come onto our social media and try to whip up hate in America,” the New Jersey senator added. “That is one of our biggest crises. It is time for a new vision of our country that’s far more uniting, that brings people together, doesn’t deepen divides.”
Some Democrats have blamed the ideological tests some left-leaning groups demanded Democratic presidential candidates take in 2020 in exchange for endorsements for felling former Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign two years ago.
The Trump campaign used one of Harris’ answers to an ACLU questionnaire in 2019 about providing gender-affirming care for inmates in prisons and immigration detention to run TV ads accusing the vice president of being “for they/them,” while “President Trump is for you.”
Booker on Sunday also called for the Democratic party to expand their priorities from just countering President Donald Trump and his agenda.
“The challenges on the horizon aren’t just this current crisis that Trump has caused. He shouldn’t be the main character of our narrative,” Booker told Welker. “Right now, we have real challenges from new technologies like AI and robotics, new challenges that we need more unity in our country and a reminder that we are not each other’s enemies.”