Newark Mayor Cory Booker cruised to victory in the Democratic primary to determine who will be running to replace the late Frank Lautenberg in the Senate this October. Booker received 59 percent of the vote, considerably more than the 20 percent runner up Rep. Frank Pallone received, in the primary that drew a slightly higher voter turnout than expected, according to NBC News.
"He was the frontrunner from the beginning of the race and has an extraordinary level of popularity for a politician, especially as a politician that is the mayor of Newark, being the mayor of a city has rarely been seen as the path of greater political glory, but he has been something of a phenomenon in New Jersey politics," Joan Weingart, associate director of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University, told ABC News.
Honored to receive Dem nomination for #NJSen today. This is our victory - thank you. Please continue to run with me https://t.co/0lIwv7LWBb
— Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) August 14, 2013
The special election is scheduled for Oct. 16 and many predict that Booker is the frontrunner over Republican Steven Lonegan. New Jersey has not elected a Republican to the U.S. Senate in forty years so it is a bit of an uphill battle for Lonegan, according to the New York Times. "I intend to run a line-in-the sand campaign between a conservative and an extreme liberal," Lonegan said after winning the Republican primary. "The differences could not be clearer." Going into the primaries Booker had raised significantly more money than his competitors and enjoyed the advantage of being far more recognizable to voters. For example, if Booker were to win the election he would have more Twitter followers than everyone else in the Senate with the exception of John McCain, R-Ariz., according to the Washington Post.
“Piglet noticed that even though he had a Small Heart, it could hold a rather large amount of Gratitude” A A Milne (Thanks 2 all who helped) — Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) August 14, 2013
Despite enjoying many advantages over his opponent leading up to the special election there have been some issues in the Booker campaign that have come to light recently that could give him trouble. A recent New York Times article criticized Booker's involvement raising money from wealthy members of the tech industry for a start-up he has a stake in called Waywire, according to ABC News.
"It remains to be seen if any of these (stories) will have an impact on this year's race," Weingart said. "If any of these questions about his financial dealings have started a theme of concern for people, It may have more of an affect on the 2014 race and perhaps encourage candidates to challenge him that may otherwise think he is invincible."
A recent Quinnipiac poll showed that Booker was leading Lonegan 54 to 29 percent in the general election.
