PHILADELPHIA — In an emotionally charged speech on Monday night, U.S. Sen. Cory Booker preached love and respect to a packed Wells Fargo Center, saying Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton knows something key to holding the highest office in the land that Donald Trump does not.
"We are not a zero-sum nation," Booker, considered a rising force in the Democratic Party, said at the Democratic National Convention. "It is not you or me, it is not one American against another. It is you and I, together, interdependent, interconnected with one single interwoven American destiny."
Quoting everyone from the poet Maya Angelou to Abraham Lincoln, Booker enthralled the crowd, leaving some pundits shortly after to compare his inspiring words to those of a younger Barack Obama who keynoted the 2004 Democratic convention.
"When we respect each other, when we stand up for each other, when we work together against the challenges our neighbors face ... That is when we go from an already great America to an even greater America," he said as he was met with cheers from the crowd.
Trump, who accepted the Republican nomination on Thursday, has been heavily criticized by Democrats for, what many of them call, divisive rhetoric, among other things.
Booker also urged people to vote in November so Trump can be defeated.
"We cannot fall into complacency or indifference about this election, because still the only thing necessary for evil to be triumphant is for good people to do nothing," Booker said.
Before his Virginia counterpart, Tim Kaine, was selected as Clinton's running mate, Booker was on the former Secretary of State's shortlist.
Booker, 47, was elected to the Senate in 2013, defeating Jeffrey Chiesa. Previously, he had been the mayor of Newark, the same city where he grew up. Booker is considered an emerging star within the Democratic Party, as his energetic personality has drawn the attention of both voters and the media.