Ready! Fire! Aim?

Anti-establishment progressive Democrat Lisa McCormick condemned the August 29th endorsement of Senator Cory Booker’s reelection by GIFFORDS PAC, calling it a grossly premature celebration of a failed status quo that has overseen a catastrophic rise in gun violence while delivering only symbolic, watered-down legislation.

“While Gabrielle Giffords is a hero and her story is a tragedy that should have moved this nation to action, this endorsement represents the capitulation of the political establishment to the powerful rather than a commitment to the people they serve,” said McCormick. “To endorse Cory Booker now is to endorse a record of failure and complicity during a period where gun violence, particularly against our youth, has exploded on his watch.”

McCormick pointed to the grim statistics that have defined Booker’s tenure in the Senate since 2013:

• Gun homicides for teens have nearly tripled.
• The overall gun death rate among youth has nearly doubled.
• Mass shooting incidents have increased 2.5-fold.

In 2023, the nation suffered nearly 50,000 gun deaths, a 33% increase in the rate since 2014.

“Senator Booker has been in Washington for over a decade, and in that time, the Trump administration and the NRA gun lobby have run roughshod over our safety. He has never successfully stopped them,” said McCormick. “Instead, he participated in the Biden administration’s plot to sweep the issue under the rug by enacting a toothless gun law with bipartisan support, which both parties then celebrated as a monumental achievement while the bloodshed continued.”

McCormick was referring to the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA), which she acknowledges contained minor provisions but ultimately squandered a moment of national outrage after Uvalde and Buffalo to pass a bill that fell catastrophically short of the bans on assault weapons and universal background checks that the majority of Americans demand.

“We don't know who is going to run next year, but it is safe to presume the corrupt political establishment will reward incompetence and indifference rather than ask the people who they want,” said McCormick. “There is no reason to endorse Cory Booker without knowing who his opponent will be or what an alternative contender stands for.”

“Flowery language about ‘proving democracy works’ cannot change the fact that democracy is broken. It is so broken that it is unable to rise to the moment and save the lives of our children,” McCormick insisted. “Our political system is broken, and leaders must demand that Americans rise to the responsibility of citizenship, not pat themselves on the back for incrementalism in the face of a slaughter.”

McCormick also challenged the narrative of Booker’s record on community safety, pointing to his tenure as Mayor of Newark.

“Rather than interrupting the cycle of violence, as mayor, Booker unleashed a wave of police brutality that targeted Black residents, a fact confirmed by a Justice Department investigation,” said McCormick. “While Mayor Baraka has worked to clean up his mess, the pattern is clear: Cory Booker is either not up to the job of confronting powerful interests, or he is merely pretending to fight against the Trump Republican agenda while faithfully serving the billionaire oligarchs who fund campaigns for both Democrats and the GOP.”

On September 8, 2010, while Booker was still in City Hall, the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey petitioned the United States Department of Justice to commence an investigation into the Newark Police Department, alleging that the law enforcement agency had a history of engaging in conduct that violates its citizens’ constitutional rights.

In 2014, the U.S. Department of Justice confirmed the ACLU’s allegations of systemic misconduct by police during Booker's tenure as mayor, uncovering a “pattern or practice of constitutional violations.”

These included unlawful stops and arrests, suppression of First Amendment rights, excessive use of force, and even theft by officers, which were attributed to deep-seated failures in the city’s leadership.

In 2016, a federal court appointed former New Jersey Attorney General Peter Harvey to serve as the independent monitor of the Newark Department of Public Safety’s Police Division, in accordance with a settlement reached by the federal government. On September 8, 2025, Harvey filed his final report regarding the progress on implementing the required reforms.

“This endorsement is not just premature; it is a signal that the inside-the-Beltway game of politics as usual is more important than the lives being lost every day in our neighborhoods, our schools, and our communities,” McCormick concluded. “New Jersey deserves a Senator who will reject the failed incrementalism of the past and fight with the uncompromising courage this emergency demands. Cory Booker has proven he is not that leader.”

McCormick is a progressive Democrat and anti-corruption advocate from New Jersey. She challenged incumbent Senator Bob Menendez in the 2018 Democratic primary, earning 38% of the vote without corporate PAC donations or any significant funding. She advocates for a $50 million cap on personal wealth, Medicare for All, a Green New Deal, and bold, urgent action to end gun violence.