Cory Booker says he’s a ‘good house guest’ who does what he’s ‘told to do by my host’ when he crashes with supporters during events like the Iowa State Fair.
The New Jersey senator competing to become the Democratic Party’s 2020 presidential nominee told DailyMail.com that he enjoys sleeping in voters’ spare bedrooms on the campaign trail, and the practice isn’t a campaign ploy.
‘I think it’s just a better way to know a state, to know a community. Not to stay up and sit in a nice hotel, but to actually sleep on someone’s spare bed, or get a chance to stay up until midnight, 2, one occasion, actually, 4 o’clock in the morning, talking to folks about their issues, about their view of the campaign,’ he said in an interview before the fair began.
Cory Booker says he’s a ‘good house guest’ who does what he’s ‘told to do by my host’ when he crashes with supporters during events like the Iowa State Fair
The New Jersey senator competing to become the Democratic Party’s 2020 presidential nominee told DailyMail.com that he enjoys sleeping in voters’ spare bedrooms on the campaign trail, and the practice isn’t a campaign ploy
VEGETABLES. THEY’RE PROBABLY WHAT’S FOR DINNER: At least if you’re Cory Booker, that is. The devout vegan will be on the hunt for tasty veggies when he visits the fair on Saturday
Booker and other Democratic White House hopefuls are flying into Iowa this week to take part in the 10-day event that brings a bipartisan crowd to Des Moines every four years to watch candidates chomp on fried foods and deliver 20-minute speeches from atop a riser surrounded by bales of hay.
Booker is scheduled to speak Saturday afternoon, a few hours after a gun control forum that will draw most of the marquee candidates. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren will precede him on the risers that’s affectionately known as the ‘political soapbox.’
But as an animal lover who is a strict vegan, he will have to pass on some of the fair’s most infamous and awkward foods as he walks around and presses the flesh.
The Iowa Pork Producers Association’s tent is one popular spot he will likely skip, passing on the spectacle of eating a pork chop on a stick.
Deep-fried Snickers bars, Oreos and Twinkies are also out of the question: they contain milk.
In the farming state that’s widely known for its corn-based ethanol production, he’s most likely to be seen eating corn on the cob instead of corn dogs.
Booker told DailyMail.com after the second presidential debate in Detroit that he expects to stuff his face in Des Moines, regardless of the challenges his lifestyle poses to consuming traditional fair fare.
‘You know, us vegans are everywhere. There’s even vegan and vegetarian places at the Iowa State Fair. So, I am looking forward to getting my fill at the fair,’ he said enthusiastically.
Booker will also appear at the 2019 Iowa Democratic Wing Ding in the northern town of Clear Lake on Friday evening. The event is a fundraiser for local and statewide Democratic candidates that attracts presidential hopefuls every four years.
As he has in the past, the senator is likely to lean on his supporters for room and board while he’s in Iowa, and for good reason. Hotel rooms are often hard to come by with so many campaigns, news outlets and voters flocking to the fair.
‘I’m a good house guest. I hope that others will have me over,’ he said of the sleepovers.
Booker punted on whether his good manners include doing the dishes.
‘You know, I try to be a very responsible house guest and not leave messes, and do what I’m told to do by my host,’ he said, laughing.
Donald Trump eats a pork chop on a stick while campaigning the Iowa State Fair on August 15, 2015 in Des Moines, Iowa. Pork chops on a stick are a popular fair food in Iowa, but Booker doesn’t eat meat
Booker had a breakout performance at last month’s Democratic primary debate in Detroit, when he came out swinging against former Vice President Joe Biden and other front-runners.
Biden, he said, was ‘dipping in the Kool-Aid, and you don’t even know the flavor.’ That moment, during an exchange on policing policies he implemented when he was the mayor of Newark, went viral on social media.
‘You need to come to the city of Newark and see the reforms that we put in place,’ Booker told Biden.
Asked after the debate what flavor the Kool-Aid actually is in New Jersey’s largest city, he told DailyMail.com with a chuckle: ‘Well, as a Kool-Aid fan when I was growing up, grape Kool-Aid was my thang.’