Power Elite: Rhodes Scholars With Enormous Influence
7. Cory A. Booker
Booker began his studies at Oxford in 1992, gaining an honors degree in modern history. He is now a Democratic senator from New Jersey and served as mayor of racially diverse Newark, New Jersey, the largest city in the state.
Before Booker took office as mayor of Newark, New Jersey investigators foiled a plot to assassinate him led by Bloods gang leaders inside four New Jersey state prisons. The motive for the plot was unclear, but was described variously as a response to the acrimonious campaign and to Booker’s campaign promises to take a harder line on crime.
A member of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition, which aims to “making the public safer by getting illegal guns off the streets”. In addition to his crime-lowering initiatives, Booker doubled the amount of affordable housing under development and quadrupled the amount under pre-development.
