The young, educated, and Black Kentucky native who secured a seat in the state’s House is now grooming a run at Mitch McConnell’s congressional seat.
Charles Booker, who grew up in Kentucky, told The Grio that the poverty he experienced as a child was the triggering factor behind his stance in politics.
“My childhood really shaped my view of the world, which is one of the things that really led me to go into politics,” he said. “Seeing how hard [my mother] worked just let me know that we weren’t struggling because we were lazy, because we were morally deficient.”
“It just really lit a fire under me to go into the spaces where the policy and budgetary decisions are made,” added the 35-year-old state lawmaker. “It makes sure that regular people are accounted for. My wife and I have two daughters, and I’m trying to make sure we don’t pass poverty down to them.”
A month ago, Booker was an afterthought in the state’s Democratic Primary race, but he didn’t have enough funds to pay for advertising in the primary against former Marine pilot Amy McGrath. However, after the police killing of George Floyd, Booker got a huge money inflow with few key endorsements, including Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders.
Booker was an active demonstrator of several Black Lives Matter protests in Louisville at the wake of Breonna Taylor’s killing by police officers. Today, he is a legitimate candidate for the primary, but Booker is planning to do more than show up.
“My focus is about uprooting racism,” Booker said. “We find ourselves being ignored over and over again like no one ever listened to us, no one ever cared how we feel, no one ever pays attention to our struggles, challenges, or aspirations. We are invisible and that is being displayed once again because these big donors are telling us all we deserve is a pro-Trump Democrat,” Booker added.
Peradventure Booker getd past McGrath, he will then be availed the opportunity of making history by putting McConnell’s long run as a politician to a halt.
