Cory Booker admits Democrats ‘failed in my generation’ in scathing assessment of his own party

Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., offered some candid criticisms of the Democratic Party during an interview with New York Times Opinion published Monday, arguing that the party has “failed” and made “terrible mistakes.”

Booker told the Times’ David Leonhardt that a new generation of Democratic leaders was taking the helm, expressing optimism for the party as he pushed for a difficult conversation.

“And in the Democratic Party, I want to have a very tough conversation. I want it to be a competition of ideas about what our party is going to look like. I’m one of those people who’s saying our party has failed. They’ve made terrible mistakes. I want us to emerge in this moment not focusing on party but refocusing on people,” he said.

Booker explained his grandfather was a Democrat during the Franklin Roosevelt era, and said he worked to turn several districts in Detroit, Michigan, blue. The senator attributed the party’s success at the time to FDR’s “clear vision that this was going to be the nation where working people would have dignity at work, would be able to afford a home, would be able to afford to raise their children and give them a better life.”

Sen. Cory Booker speaks during a news conference outside the U.S. Capitol on May 20, 2025, regarding Rep. LaMonica  McIver. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

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The Democratic senator said FDR delivered on those things and then spoke about his father, who he said came to Washington, D.C., because of the civil rights movement, telling the Times, “Blacks and whites, Christians and Jews in this town were forcing corporations to hire qualified Blacks.” 

Booker said his father became a top salesman at IBM, and argued, “If you create a fair playing field, people get on that field and compete.”

The lawmaker argued that the Democratic Party of his generation failed to put Americans in a position to set the next generation up for even greater success. 

“And next thing you know, my father would look at my brother and me growing up in a suburban home in New Jersey and say: Boy, don’t you dare walk around this house like you hit a triple. You were born on third base. But that’s the dream for every generation. And the Democratic Party has failed in my generation,” he said.

Sen. Cory Booker is seen on May 28, 2025, in Los Angeles, California. (PG/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images)

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He also called out his party over failing to use TikTok, especially to reach younger voters.

“I basically said to my team: My fellow Democrats, you guys are running to go do MSNBC — and I love my MSNBC — but that only got 100,000 views. I can show you on my platforms that one video of mine can get more than the top-rated views on MSNBC. So we’re in a different era. That’s an important point,” he said during the interview, which was held in late October (MSNBC changed its name to MS NOW earlier this month).

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Booker made headlines in April after speaking out against President Donald Trump on the Senate floor for 25 hours, breaking a record. 

Booker said toward the beginning of his speech that Trump, in 71 days, “has inflicted so much harm on Americans’ safety, financial stability, the core foundations of our democracy, and even our aspirations as a people for, from our highest offices, a sense of common decency.”

Fox News’ Alba Cuebas-Fantauzzi contributed to this report.