Cory Booker held a rally in N.J. and thousands showed up. Will the love continue when he hits the road? – NJ.com

Cory Booker wants to talk about love.

Not the feel-good kind, but the courageous kind. The kind that is born from cities in despair, cities long forgotten and told too long to wait their turn.

“Our sense of urgency, our impatience, comes from the most demanding of values, it comes from love,” Booker said Saturday, as he formally kicked off his national presidential tour in Newark and pitched a message he hopes will carry him across the country — and help him stand out in an already-crowded field of Democratic contenders.

“We’re here today to seek justice. We’re here today because we are impatient for that justice,” said Booker, who led Newark for nearly two mayoral terms before he was elected U.S. Senator. “In the face of injustice, there is no wait, there must be work.”

That work was apparent all around him — a strategically-chosen six-acre park indicative of a city in change. Standing before a diverse crowd of supporters in Military Park, Booker was dwarfed by a recently completed luxury 22-story residential tower and Prudential’s newest 22-story glassy tower. There was the Whole Foods across the street and a spattering of adjacent eateries.

“After 60 years of decline, Newark is growing again,” Booker said. “There are so many places like that across America. Not just cities like this one — farm communities and factory towns that, like us here in Newark, have been given up on and talked down to, counted out and underestimated.”

“Today, so many of us are hurting, so many of us are understandably angry and afraid,” he said.

Newark still grapples with generational poverty, high crime rates and homelessness, but Booker is propelling the city to the center of his campaign and using it as an example of what he can — and wants — to do.

“If you can make it in Newark, New Jersey, you can make it anywhere,” current Newark Mayor Ras Baraka said as the sun bore down on the crowd. “If you make your bones here, there’s no place that can stop you in this country.”

Those who came arrived from across the state — or even as far as Connecticut and Massachusetts.

“We all have love in common,” said Alejandro Vasquez, 17, who took a train from Connecticut and will vote for the first time in the Democratic primary. “If he’s able to communicate to the entire party and people who feel disenfranchised, it’s a better way to go about it than blame the people who voted for Trump.”

The message resonated throughout the entire 4-hour event. (Booker spoke for about 30 minutes.)

Children painted peace totems with color pencils. Monica Davis, a Newark business owner, decorated young girls’ hair with unicorn headbands and braids. The funk and soul music — Booker walked on stage to Bill Wither’s “Lovely Day” — hit a feel-good note.

“It brings life … this is real music that makes you want and do,” said Newark resident Debra Salters as “Keep Marchin'” from Raphael Saadiq blasted through the speakers. She said she didn’t support Booker yet but warned that he’d have to recreate his message for the people in Iowa or other states.

“The message that he uses for us, it works,” Salters said, referring to diversity and inclusion. “He’s got to be able to be on the pulse of people there, too.”

The difficulty of achieving a message for all was apparent halfway through Booker’s speech when a few individuals began chanting “justice for Palestine” amid competing chants of “Cory.” The protests came amid renewed debate over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. One attendee, holding a Palestinian flag in the bleachers that provided Booker’s backdrop was quickly moved.

So far, Booker has been behind in the polls, and has raised $5 million through the end of March, not quite the $18 million raised by Bernie Sanders or the $12 million by Kamala Harris, who are also vying for the party’s nomination.

The state’s influential Democratic leaders, including Gov. Phil Murphy, First Lady Tammy Murphy, Sen. Robert Menendez and Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo Jr., rallied to Booker’s cause.

Booker rattled off a laundry list of priorities including his baby bonds bill to give every child a $1,000 savings account to use for education or housing purposes when they turn 18 as a way to eliminate the racial wealth gap.

“You can’t make progress dividing people, stoking fear, or setting us one against another,” Booker said. “I learned that the only way to overcome the tough challenges is by extending grace, finding common ground, and working together.”

Karen Yi may be reached at kyi@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at @karen_yi or on Facebook. Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.com’s newsletters.