Summary
Incumbent Democratic Senator Cory Booker is running for a second full term. Booker was previously a candidate for his party’s nomination for President of the United States in 2020. New Jersey election law allowed him to run for both Senate and President simultaneously, but he suspended his presidential campaign on January 13, 2020, and confirmed his intention for reelection to his Senate seat.
Entrepreneur Rik Mehta has become the first Indian-American to win the Republican primary for the Senate seat from the US state of New Jersey. Mehta, a former US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) official, defeated his nearest rival Hirsh Singh, also an Indian-American, in the Republican, also known as the GOP (Grand Old Party), primaries held on July 7 by a margin of approximately 13,743 votes, according to preliminary results.
OnAir Post: New Jersey – US Senate 2020 Election
News
Shore News Network – September 9, 2020
This week a poll done by Emerson University showed Democrat Cory Book with a commanding 30 point lead of Mehta just weeks into his campaign.
“Senator Cory Booker leads Republican challenger Rik Mehta 52% to 28%, 16% were undecided and 5% said they plan to vote for someone else,” the poll said.
New Jersey Emerson College poll – September 9, 2020
A new Emerson College Poll of New Jersey likely voters finds former Vice President Joe Biden with a significant lead in the Garden state, with 55% of the vote and President Trump at 38%. Among the 7% of undecided voters, 44% were leaning towards Joe Biden, 33% leaning towards President Trump, and 23% said they were leaning towards someone else. The survey was conducted September 4-7, 2020 of n=500 likely voters (+/-4.4%).
Senator Cory Booker leads Republican challenger Rik Mehta 52% to 28%, 16% were undecided and 5% said they plan to vote for someone else.
“I’m in front of Cory Booker’s offices in Newark, New Jersey,” Mehta said. “Cory Booker continues to ignore my requests to debate him and we’ve sent multiple letters to media outlets and his office and typical fashion he continues to ignore me.”
Mehta rattled off a campaign list of problems in New Jersey, bans on indoor dining, closure of gyms and movie theaters, despite having a low rate of infection and numbers of COVID-19 cases.
NJ.com, – July 10, 2020
U.S. Sen. Cory Booker now knows who he’ll face in the general election this fall.
Rik Mehta, a pharmacist and lawyer making his first try for public office, has won the Republican Senate nomination. The Associated Press called the race for Mehta Friday, three days after the polls closed in New Jersey’s first election with mostly mail-in ballots.
Mehta, of Chester Township, largely self-financed his primary run, lending himself $315,000. He raised $78,640 in contributions, including $4,000 from state Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean Jr.‘s congressional committee, and had $48,214 in the bank as of June 17.
Booker raised $3.8 million and had $2.9 million cash on hand
Cory Booker
Current Position: US Senator since 2013
Affiliation: Democrat
Candidate: 2020 US Senator
Senator Booker has established himself as an innovative and bipartisan problem-solver committed to developing collaborative solutions that address some of our most complex challenges. Whether it’s advocating for more federal resources to modernize New Jersey’s transportation system, securing funds to continue the long recovery from Superstorm Sandy, or ensuring that our communities are safe from the effects of pollution and climate change, Booker has proven his steadfast commitment to standing up for what matters most to New Jerseyans.
Booker has also emerged as a national leader in the Congressional push for common sense criminal justice reform, advocating for front-end sentencing reforms, pushing for the banning of juvenile solitary confinement in federal facilities, and spearheading legislation to make the hiring process fairer for the formerly incarcerated.
For more information, see this Cory Booker post.
Rik Mehta
Current Position: biotech entrepreneur, innovator, healthcare policy expert and a licensed pharmacist and attorney
Affiliation: Republican
Candidate: 2020 US Senator
U.S. Senate hopeful Dr. Rik Mehta is a biotech entrepreneur, innovator, healthcare policy expert and a licensed pharmacist and attorney. Trained at world–renowned Rutgers University as a pharmacist and lawyer, Dr. Mehta has emerged as a top potential candidate for the U.S. Senate seat in 2020 because of his intimate knowledge of the issues that matter to New Jersey.
As a small business owner and a first generation American, he’s a staunch advocate for defending our Constitutional rights, fighting against illegal immigration and Sanctuary Cities, an affordable, accessible healthcare system that’s built for generations to come, and building New Jersey’s economy for the future.
For more information, see this Rik Mehta post.
Issues
Civil Rights
COREY BOOKER
As Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Cory has dedicated his public service career to protecting and advancing the rights of all Americans, especially those most vulnerable. He is committed to ensuring all people are free from discrimination, regardless of their race, ethnicity, sex, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, or age, and he has championed dozens of bills in the Senate affirming these rights.
RIK MEHTA
Defend Law-Abiding Gun Owners
Rik will never back down from defending the 2nd Amendment. Stopping gun violence does not mean scapegoating or infringing upon the rights of law-abiding citizens who own guns for self-defense of any other purpose. Rik supports expanding conceal carry laws coupled with an effective background check system to keep guns out of the hands of criminals or the mentally ill.
Governance
Cory Booker
N/A
Rik Mehta
Cutting Taxes While Balancing the Budget
Rik supports a balanced budget amendment because the federal government needs to live within its means, just like American families, seniors, and small businesses do each and every day. In the Senate, Rik would vote to make the Trump individual tax cuts permanent and vote to raise or eliminate the current $10,000 SALT cap to alleviate pressure on New Jersey homeowners who – thanks to Trenton Democrats – pay the highest state and local taxes in the nation.
Economy
Cory Booker
Cory Booker believes in economic justice and the fundamental promise that if you work hard in America, America should work for you. His work as a Mayor and U.S. Senator has focused on the singular goal of fostering greater economic mobility and opportunity for all Americans. Toward this end, Cory has advocated for innovative policy measures to reward work through higher wages and better benefits, advance entrepreneurship and innovation in every corner of the country, and crack down on the soaring cost of rent and predatory practices like overdraft fees and outsourcing, that disproportionately hurt low-income Americans. He is also the author of landmark “baby bonds” legislation to fight intergenerational poverty and the enormous racial wealth gap by providing every American seed money at birth.
Rik Mehta
Fair Trade Deals for American Workers
Rik supports President Trump’s United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) because it creates a fair playing field for American workers and will benefit New Jersey farmers, ranchers, and agribusinesses. We live in a global economy and free trade is a must, but it also must be fair trade to ensure that other nations don’t take advantage of us like they have for years.
Education
Cory Booker
Cory believes that a student’s zip code should not determine the educational and economic trajectory of their lives. During his time in the Senate, Cory has worked to ensure that all students have access to a high quality education. From making sure our nation’s teachers and early childhood educators have the resources and support they need, to improving educational outcomes for vulnerable students, educational equity has been central to his work.
Rik Mehta
School Choice for Students and Parents
School Choice for Students and Parents
Rik backs school choice for parents and children locked in failing schools and will free local districts to make curriculum decisions, not federal bureaucrats. A student should never have their future determined by their zip code and the failing schools that serve it. High dropout rates, low test scores, and rampant absenteeism are sadly typical of many failing schools in New Jersey and throughout the country. All too often, those schools are in minority neighborhoods. This is unfair and immoral, and it must change immediately before another generation is lost.
Environment
Cory Booker
Cory believes all Americans should have access to clean water and clean air, which is why he is a leader in developing federal policies that lift up low-income communities, indigenous communities, and communities of color, which disproportionately bear the burden of environmental pollution and exploitation. The existential threat of climate change will exacerbate these inequities unless we act boldly, which is why Cory is an original cosponsor of the Green New Deal.
Rik Mehta
N/A
Health Care
Cory Booker
Cory believes that health care is a human right – no American should go without the quality, affordable care they need and deserve. Throughout his time in the Senate, he has been a leader in the fight to protect the Affordable Care Act, while also championing proposals to build upon the law, increase access to care, and lower costs. As one of the Senate’s strongest proponents for improving health equity, Cory has advanced efforts to tackle our nation’s maternal mortality crisis, expand research and public health activities for sickle cell disease, and increase access to addiction treatment.
Rik Mehta
Real, Affordable Healthcare Reform
As someone who worked in the FDA under both Republican and Democratic Administrations, Rik knows what is broken with our healthcare system and how to fix it. Disastrous socialist policies like so-called ‘Medicare for All’ is not the answer, as it will lead to the end of private insurance, the doubling of taxes on nearly every America, and rationing of care. That is unacceptable and it must be stopped. Rik support the following prescription to fix our broken system and still deliver the best healthcare in the world: 1) allow competition across state lines as it relates to insurance companies to bring down costs; 2) eliminate excessive regulatory mandates and administrative burdens on medical professionals; 3) reverse damaging policies like taxing insurance premiums; 4) crack down on irresponsible pharmaceutical companies and hold them accountable to federal laws; 5) get new and innovative therapies onto pharmacy shelves to treat unmet medical needs; 6) increase transparency into pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) practices and manufacturer drug pricing decisions; 7) cut down FDA approval time for new medicines; 8) bring drug manufacturing back to the U.S. (and away from China) to lower the price of drugs and create American jobs.
Immigration
Cory Booker
N/A
Rik Mehta
Stop Illegal Immigration and Fix Our Broken System
Rik supports building the wall and opposes taxpayer-funded education and healthcare for illegal immigrants. While compassionate towards all those seeking a better life in the United States, Rik believes that immigrants coming to this country should do it the way his parents did – legally. Rik is also completely opposed to Governor Phil Murphy’s radical Sanctuary State policies, including college tuition aid, legal aid, and drivers licenses for illegals.
Infrastructure
Cory Booker
Cory believes we need to substantially increase the federal investment in our nation’s transportation infrastructure in order to help rebuild New Jersey’s aging roads, bridges, rail systems, airports, and seaports. In the Senate, he has been a leader in advancing the critical Gateway Project, which will rebuild the crumbling rail lines between New Jersey and New York Penn Station. He has also worked to help deliver additional resources to New Jersey through his work on the Environment and Public Works Committee, which oversees funding for federal highways.
Rik Mehta
N/A
Safety
Cory Booker
Foreign Policy & National Security
As the newest democratic member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Cory has brought attention to the most vulnerable people on the planet that often don’t make the headlines, including those suffering from ongoing civil war, famine, and the effects of climate change. He has been a leader in ensuring our diplomatic corps increases its diversity and is well-resourced to meet the enormous challenge of executing U.S. policy in every corner of the world.
Criminal Justice
Dating back to his time as a tenant’s rights lawyer, City Council Member, and Mayor of Newark, Cory has seen first-hand the devastating effects of our broken criminal justice system and has worked tirelessly to find common-sense solutions to end mass incarceration and help people with criminal records successfully reintegrate into society. In his first term as a Senator, he authored and helped pass the First Step Act, the most sweeping set of criminal justice reforms in a generation, and the Fair Chance Act, a landmark bill making it easier for people to find jobs after they’ve been released from prison.
Rik Mehta
Our founding fathers were concerned about an expansive criminal code that could threaten our individual liberties. The President has taken the first steps to remedy past mistakes by signing into law signature legislation, the First Step Act, and creating incremental changes to our criminal justice system. But there’s more we need to do – especially in terms of prosecutorial waste. Over the last 30 years, we’ve grown the number of criminal offenses in the U.S. code by over 2000 vastly redundant laws. Rik will continue to expand criminal justice reform in a way that ensures we lock up violent offenders and throw away the key, while preventing the overflow of our jails with non-violent offenders who are capable of rehabilitation and earn second chances.
Veterans
Cory Booker
Cory has made fighting for New Jersey’s service members, veterans, and their families a priority during his time in public office. When he was first elected to the U.S. Senate, his very first meeting was with New Jersey veterans. From passing legislation to enhance accountability at the Department of Veterans Affairs to closing critical gaps in education benefits and increasing access to timely, quality, and inclusive healthcare options, Cory is committed to ensuring our veterans receive the benefits they’ve earned.
Rik Mehta
Honoring our Uniformed Americans
Freedom is never free. And, it’s never wrong for the President to make a decision to bring American troops home and reunite them with their families. Countries that have a closer geographic interest to war-torn regions, such as Syria and the Middle East, must pull their own weight and work to maintain peace. We must bring our troops home when it’s not our war. These brave men and women have sacrificed everything to protect our nation, and we owe it to them to take care of them when they exit active duty.
