Sen. Cory Booker fires up Iowa Democrats: 'It is a time to get up, to rise up, to speak up'

U.S. Sen. Cory Booker repeatedly brought more than 1,100 Iowa Democrats to their feet Saturday night with a rousing call to get their party and country back on track.

The New Jersey Democrat, a possible 2020 presidential candidate, used a preacher’s cadence to fire up activists at a Des Moines fundraiser for the state party.

"Stay faithful. Stay faithful. Stay faithful," he said, quoting a mantra he learned from a mentor in a subsidized housing complex in Newark.

He recalled becoming discouraged by Republican Donald Trump’s 2016 election as president. But he said he regained his spirit upon seeing hundreds of thousands of women march in Washington, D.C., and elsewhere in the days after Trump’s inauguration.

Booker said he got the marchers' message.

“This is not a time to curl up. It is not a time to shut up. It is not a time to give up. It is a time to get up, to rise up, to speak up!” he said to rising applause from the Des Moines crowd. “It is time for you not to wait for hope, but to be the hope.”

Booker, 49, gained prominence in recent weeks as a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. He was among the Democrats who grilled Brett Kavanaugh during hearings on whether the judge should be confirmed as a U.S. Supreme Court justice.

Booker referred Saturday night to Democrats’ losing effort to prevent Kavanaugh’s confirmation. The newest justice was confirmed and immediately sworn in Saturday.

In Iowa, Booker alluded to clashes with Republicans, including Trump, over allegations that Kavanaugh assaulted women in high school and college.

He said Democrats would be defined by how they respond to such challenges. “We’re not defined by a president who does not believe women,” he said.

Saturday’s keynote speech was a step up in building his brand in Iowa, but it wasn’t his first campaign trip to the state. He served as an enthusiastic opening act for Hillary Clinton during several of her campaign rallies leading up to the 2016 Iowa caucuses.

He deflected reporters’ questions Saturday night about whether he’ll run for president. He said that at this point, he’s traveling the country helping Democratic candidates campaign.

MORE:Democrat Booker, fresh from Kavanaugh vote, makes Iowa debut

During his speech, he noted that his grandmother was born in Des Moines, and that other relatives lived in the Iowa coal-mining town of Buxton.

His mother, Carolyn Booker, and other relatives were in the audience Saturday night. Booker joked about his mother’s efforts to keep him humble. “Behind every successful child is an astonished parent,” he said, drawing laughter.

Booker, a former mayor of Newark, New Jersey, urged Iowa Democrats to avoid becoming discouraged or cynical.

“You cannot love your country unless you love your fellow countrymen and women,” he said. “Democrats will never be pulled down so low that we hate folk. We can’t hate Republicans. We need each other, as Americans. We’ve got to lead with love. You can’t lead the people if you don’t love the people — all the people.”

The Democrats’ headlining speaker caught the attention of Iowa Republicans, whose chairman, Jeff Kaufmann, sent out a statement mocking Brooker as a grand-stander:

“Cory Booker’s warm welcome in Des Moines tonight tells Iowans all they need to know about what these Democrats will do if elected — and that’s an approach that puts obstruction, political stunts and resistance over results and promises kept,” Kaufmann wrote in a statement. “Senator ‘Spartacus’ thinks his vapid stunts in New Jersey and D.C. have earned him front-runner status for 2020, but voters across Iowa will grow tired of his premeditated outrage.”

Booker spoke at Hy-Vee Hall after a parade of Iowa Democrats took the stage. They were led by governor candidate Fred Hubbell, who is hoping to oust Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds, and Congressional candidates Abby Finkenauer and Cindy Axne, who want to take to U.S. House seats held by Republicans Rod Blum and David Young.

The candidates voiced optimism that Iowa would see a Democratic wave in next month’s election.

After Saturday’s event, Booker told reporters he is focused on helping fellow Democrats this November, not on a possible presidential run in 2020.

“This is such a critical race for our country,” he said of the Iowa campaign. “I’m happy to be here. I’ll leave here and I’ll go to another state. And before 31 days are up, I’ll probably be in a dozen more states.”

Booker is in heavy demand as a speaker at fundraisers and campaign events for fellow Democrats. The Iowa dinner was Booker’s 29th campaign trip beyond New Jersey since March of last year. His trips have included three each to Georgia and Maryland and two each to Florida, Nevada, Ohio, Virginia, Washington state and Wisconsin.

— Herb Jackson, Washington, D.C., correspondent for the Bergen Record, contributed to this report.