A political storm is brewing in the Garden State, one that exposes a raw and widening fissure within the Democratic Party.
On one side stands the entrenched power of celebrity Senator Cory Booker. Against that towering force, the steadfast progressive voice of Lisa McCormick cautions that the party’s very machinery is falling short in a time of deep crisis.
Booker, a figure known for rhetorical flourish and formidable fundraising, seeks another term. Arrayed against him is Lisa McCormick, a candidate who garnered a startling 40% of the primary vote against then-Sen. Bob Menendez in 2018.
McCormick is running not merely to oppose Booker, but to indict an era of Democratic leadership she views as tragically inadequate in the face of the onslaught of neo-fascist Republican tyranny.
“The house is on fire, and they’re worried about the drapes,” McCormick said in an interview, outlining a stark platform that includes capping personal wealth at $100 million to fund universal social programs. “We have a mountain of existential threats piling up. We need leaders working to avert the things that can kill us all.”
McCormick’s list of those threats is long: climate change, nuclear proliferation, and emerging pathogens. Her 2018 warnings about pandemics now read as grim prophecy following COVID-19’s toll. This narrative of foresight versus failure forms the core of her insurgency.
The contest mirrors a generational and ideological schism seen in Democratic primaries from Maine to Maryland. It pits established fundraising networks against grassroots urgency, insider endorsements against outsider condemnation.
Booker, a former mayor of Newark, has built a national profile and a war chest approaching $100 million over his Senate career, with support from Wall Street and pro-Israel lobbying groups. He has been a vocal critic of Donald Trump but, McCormick argues, an ineffective one.
Booker launched his Senate campaign at a Trump fundraiser, endorsed a Republican for New York City mayor, and has accepted support from at least 50 billionaires. McCormick’s case is direct: “He is not on our side.”
“He thinks we can stop Trump by literally sitting around and talking,” McCormick said, referencing Booker’s marathon speeches and symbolic sit-ins. “Perhaps he did not notice the tanks rolling down the streets of Washington.”
Her campaign points to a series of stark metrics under Booker’s tenure: a rise in atmospheric CO2, the gutting of the Voting Rights Act, the fall of Roe v. Wade, and a tripling of mass shootings. While no single senator controls these outcomes, McCormick frames them as evidence of systemic failure by the party’s elite.
“Keep on punching until you become a winner,” McCormick said, a mantra for her long-shot bid, which she says is worthwhile because out political establishment is broken at a time when urgent action is required to save the world.
The ideological contrasts are sharp.
Where Booker has endorsed the Senate Democratic leadership’s chosen successor for whip, Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii, McCormick calls for replacing Sen. Chuck Schumer as leader. Where Booker has focused on bipartisan possibilities, McCormick demands a more confrontational approach to wealth and power.
“Neoliberal pretenders serve the parasite class,” she said. “It’s time to return to a model of political action that prioritizes results over theatrics.”
Booker’s campaign highlights his advocacy for criminal justice reform, child tax credits and environmental justice. His supporters see him as a pragmatic progressive who can deliver incremental gains in a divided government.
Yet McCormick’s persistent appeal underscores a simmering discontent. She represents voters who believe the party’s high-profile moderates have bargained away their leverage, losing key fights from health care to economic equality.
She has criticized Booker for refusing to endorse progressive candidates like Zohran Mamdani and for his deep ties to the party’s financial elite. Her platform includes Medicare for All, but its centerpiece is a modern “Share Our Wealth” proposal to cap personal fortunes at $100 million—a policy she pledges to introduce as legislation.
The primary arrives as New Jersey Democrats bask in recent statewide victories, including the election of Gov. Rebecca ‘Mikie’ Sherrill. This safety, operatives suggest, may empower the party’s left flank to lodge a protest vote without fearing Republican gains in November. The GOP has not won a Senate seat here since 1972.
The result will signal more than a candidate preference. It will measure the depth of the demand for a political revolution within a party accustomed to a certain order. Voters will decide whether they want a celebrated spokesman or a confrontational strategist, an insider known for his friendships or an outsider known for her warnings.
In a state often seen as a Democratic fortress, the battle is not for survival, but for the soul of the party itself. The question is whether voters believe the current guardians have kept that soul intact.
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