35 days until vote
Tuesday marks 35 days until Americans vote in federal and state races on Nov. 8. All year, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has brought you the key moments in those races, and it will continue to cover the campaign's main events, examine the issues and analyze candidates' finance reports until the last ballot is counted. You can follow the developments on the AJC's politics page at http://www.myajc.com/s/news/georgia-politics/ and in the Political Insider blog at http://www.myajc.com/s/news/political-insider/. You can also track our coverage on Twitter at https://twitter.com/GAPoliticsNews or Facebook at https://facebook.com/gapoliticsnewsnow.
Cory Booker had quite a 24 hours in Atlanta.
The 47-year-old U.S. senator, a New Jersey Democrat, Snapped, stumped and raised cash for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and, befitting his role as the party’s millennial in chief, he did it all to help pull younger voters to the polls.
On his way to a rally at Georgia Tech on Monday, Booker did a "carpool karaoke" on Snapchat and rallied young voters for the Democrats' presidential campaign. It is the latest effort from the Clinton campaign to energize voters as she and Donald Trump compete for Georgia's 16 electoral votes.
Once on campus, Booker cajoled, pleaded and downright begged the 50 or so students there to get to the polls and share their experience on social media.
“Are you registered?” Booker said. “You can start voting early on the 17th. Do that. Take some pictures and shame some folk.”
Booker even said the election was more important than romance.
“I’m going to go here — if you’re dating somebody, tell ‘em, ‘I’m gonna break up with you if you don’t vote,’ ” he said. “Seriously. I’m sorry. ‘Don’t be texting me at 2 a.m. if you have not voted.’ ”
Afterward, Booker took a few questions from reporters. Asked how Clinton can attract the support of younger voters who made up a huge percentage of Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders’ support in the primaries, Booker said he’s living proof of how.
“I wouldn’t be here now in Georgia if this wasn’t a state that’s in play,” he said. “And I was sent to a college campus here because we want to energize young people to know all that’s at stake.”
It worked for Mayumi Dickerson, a junior at Georgia State University who attended the Booker rally Monday.
“I’m really excited about this election,” Dickerson said. “It’s my first presidential election. So I think he did a really good job of pumping up the crowd, especially people my age, the millennial voters, to go out and vote, and encouraging our peers and our friends to vote.”
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