Booker campaign signals willingness to open fundraisers to press

Sen. Cory Booker’s (D-N.J.) presidential campaign on Thursday signaled that it would be willing to open high-dollar fundraisers to members of the press. 

“There hasn’t been much interest in it. If you guys want to come, we’re in,” Booker’s campaign manager, Addisu Demissie, said on a call with reporters. 

The comment comes after South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s (D) presidential campaign announced on Monday that it would open his high-dollar fundraisers to reporters and disclose the names of campaign bundlers amid pressure from progressives. 

Booker, unlike Buttigieg, has struggled to break into the race’s top tier, often polling in the single digits in state and national polls. 

Demissie said on Thursday that Booker did not expect to make next week’s Democratic primary debate in Los Angeles as a result of failing to hit the polling threshold, adding that the senator would instead take part in an Iowa bus tour on the day of the debate. 

“We still see a path to victory that does not include the December debate stage,” Demissie said.

“It starts with a better than expected finish in Iowa. It continues with capitalizing on that momentum in the middle of February in New Hampshire and then proving our viability with diverse communities like Nevada,” he added. “Then, of course, South Carolina is the proving grounds for Cory’s strength with African American voters.”