They say not to talk politics on the first date, but it's probably safe to assume actress
Rosario Dawson​ and New Jersey senator Cory Booker​ didn't follow that rule.
The unlikely pairing of actor and politician aside, there are more than a few funky facts
about this couple's relationship.
When Booker first met Dawson at a 2018 fundraiser for Ben Jealous' Maryland gubernatorial campaign,
the sparks weren't exactly flying.
Booker told The Washington Post,
"There was no love connection there.
I think it was the places of life we were in.
I was probably dating somebody when we first met."
However, when they ran into each other later that year, Cupid was apparently also in attendance.
While Booker admitted he was nervous to ask for Dawson's number, he explained,
"I mean, gosh, that night we talked for hours and hours.
I think I said something really stupid like, 'Uh, how would I get in touch with you?'
And she mercifully said something like, 'Oh, you want my phone number?'
And my insides were like, 'Hell, yeah!'"
Dawson confirmed that Booker had no game, but that didn't matter to her.
She explained,
"He's so charming and so confident and so capable, but it's not like that translates
to being some super-smooth kind of guy.
That's not his style.
What wins me over with him is definitely the dad jokes."
"I have an incredible girlfriend, she's just simply amazing and I am hopeful as is my mother."
How quickly things can change.
Dawson's full support for a Cory Booker presidency might come as a shock to some because, in
2016, the actress was an outspoken and ardent supporter of Bernie Sanders.
"We do not need incremental change, we need bold leadership, and that is what Bernie Sanders
brings to the conversation."
According to Mashable, she even took shots at former President Barack Obama, who Booker
has consistently and unabashedly praised.
At a 2016 Sanders town hall event in Harlem, she said,
"They all organized and they thought that they had their guy, their one person.
But within two months of him becoming president, people lost faith."
Addressing the resurgence of Republican wins in subsequent midterm elections, Dawson even
laid some of the blame at Obama's feet for:
"[Failing to] continue with the momentum that got him there."
Clearly, Sanders and Booker's politics have noticeable differences, with Booker leaning
much closer to Obama in terms of progressive outreach, but make no mistake; Booker is Dawson's
choice for Commander-In-Chief for 2020.
During the 2020 CNN/New York Times primary debate in October 2019, Booker stayed mostly
in the background, with his most significant moment coming when he pushed back on the in-fighting
on stage.
"Tearing each other down because we have a different plan, to me, is unacceptable."
After the debate, Booker spoke to CNN and revealed that Dawson had offered a bit of,
in his words, "constructive criticism."
Although he called Dawson "the best," Booker added,
"Look, she wants more of me...She says I'm at my best when I show my humor.
Let people feel my spirit.
Because the issues are really important but at the end of the day, this country needs
someone who brings a spirit of civility and spirit of, frankly, unity."
As of December 2019, Booker is polling in the low single digits, so it's safe to assume
Dawson might be sharpening her pencil for a fresh round of notes.
Speaking at Variety's Toronto Film Festival studio in September 2019, Dawson gushed over
her new beau and compared him to the fictional senator she's been dating in her new series
Briarpatch.
"They could not be more different characters."
She left no doubt about how she felt about Booker, calling him:
"An amazing, brilliant, kind, empathetic, beautiful, loving human being."
Still, she stopped short of publicly endorsing the senator, adding,
"Regardless of Cory, I wasn't going to be behind any particular candidate this election.
I really just want to be behind the electorate."
That quote received most of the media's attention, leaving many to question who the actress would
be endorsing for the 2020 election, but that all changed two days after her comments to
Variety.
She seemingly addressed the piece directly when she emphatically tweeted, in part,
"For the record I, of course, endorse [Cory Booker].
Anyone writing otherwise clearly hasn't been paying attention.
My focus this election is on voter registration and the census."
When a famous actress and a presidential candidate date, you can expect constant media coverage.
And since both are such busy people who are required to attend high-profile events, there
are probably scheduling issues when one asks the other to be their plus-one, but Dawson
is tired of the double standard that comes along with it.
She told Variety in September 2019,
"He's hoping to make the Zombieland premiere, but I'm curious to see, if he doesn't, if
he's going to get the same amount of press being like 'why aren't you supporting your
woman?'
I've been getting all this press like 'why aren't you at your man's side' when I've made
it really clear that it's okay to be a working mom."
As it turns out, Booker ended up being able to make the premiere, and she returned the
favor by attending the fourth Democratic debate.
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