Booker speaks of Iowa ties during stop

U.S. Sen. Cory Booker stopped in Fairfield Friday to tell residents why he should be the next president of the United States.

Booker, a Democrat from New Jersey who has served in the Senate since 2013, said he has deep family ties to Iowa. His great-great grandmother moved with her nine children from Alabama to the town of Buxton, north of Albia. Buxton was once a thriving coal mining town and by 1900 was the largest such town west of the Mississippi River.

Booker spoke about how Buxton was ahead of its time in showing the nation that harmonious racial integration was possible. According to an Iowa Public Television series called Iowa Pathways, in 1905 Buxton consisted of about 2,700 blacks and nearly 2,000 whites. The series mentions how the town produced many black professionals such as physicians, attorneys, and the first black graduate of the University of Iowa's Medical School, Dr. E.A. Carter.

Demand for coal declined sharply in the following decade. By 1919, its population had dropped to 400, and eight years later, its coal mine closed for good. The town has since vanished.

Booker said not all parts of the country were as racially progressive as Buxton. He told about how his parents experienced racial discrimination when they attempted to move to New Jersey. Every time they found a house to their liking, the real estate agent told it was already sold, taken off the market, or some other reason that they couldn't buy it.

His parents believed they were being purposefully steered away from buying a house in a white neighborhood, so they enlisted the help of the Fair Housing Council, which set up a sting operation to catch the real estate agent in a lie. After Booker's parents were told a house was no longer for sale, a white couple came by to find out that in fact it was for sale. The white couple put a bid on the house, and on the day of closing, Booker's parents and a lawyer appeared in their place to sign the deed. Booker said the real estate agent became so enraged he punched the lawyer in the face. Nevertheless, Booker's parents won their case and were allowed to buy the house.

In light of the progress made on issues of racial equality, Booker said it was disheartening to see tribalism on the rise all over the globe and what he called an 'us vs. them” mentality.

'We must define ourselves by what we're for, not what we're against,” he said. 'This isn't about defeating one man or even one party.”

Booker spoke about a few of his policy priorities, such as making health care a 'right, not a privilege,” and to give every job a sense of dignity.

'Even coal miners in Buxton should be able to retire with security,” he said.

Booker said he plans to create what he calls a 'White House Office of Reproductive Freedom,” which he said would 'affirmatively advance abortion rights and access to reproductive health care.” Specifically, he wants to restore federal funding for family planning and access to contraception under the Affordable Care Act, codify Roe v. Wade into federal law and pass a budget that does not include the Hyde Amendment.

The Hyde Amendment was named after Republican Congressman Henry Hyde of Illinois, and passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in 1976. It bars the use of federal funds to pay for abortions except to save the life of the mother. In 1993, President Bill Clinton signed a new version of the Hyde Amendment that expanded the types of abortions available for federal funding to include rape and incest.

The Hyde Amendment was passed in response to Roe v. Wade, a 1973 U.S. Supreme Court case that prevented governmental jurisdictions from outlawing abortion during the first trimester, but allowed them to put restrictions on later abortions.

Audience member Mark Cohen asked Booker why voters should support him instead of the 20-some others who are running. Booker said none of the other candidates had his résumé. He referred to how he, while mayor of Newark, oversaw the city transform from one of crime and corruption to one that is 'experiencing the best development in 60 years.”

Resident John Miller asked the Senator how he will find common ground with Republicans while still holding his own ground.

'The key is that you never fight in a way that demeans the dignity of the other person,” Booker said.

Booker spoke about how he hugged Republican Sen. John McCain on the Senate floor after McCain announced his cancer diagnosis. He spoke about how New Jersey's Republican Gov. Chris Christie showed class by hugging President Barack Obama when Obama visited the state after Hurricane Sandy.