K-STREET, 10,000 FEET: Big Tech Booker: How a New Jersey Senator Got his Start-up Funded by Google
The Lowdown:
New Jersey Democrat Senator Cory Booker has a history of close relationships with Silicon Valley going back to at least his time as Newark mayor, including with former Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt.
Schmidt was a wealthy investor who threw money at Booker’s startup Waywire, which failed to take off.
Since joining the Senate, Booker has sided with the tech industry on key votes, including his last-minute move to block a bipartisan anti-revenge porn bill introduced by Sens. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) and Amy Klobuchar (D., Minn.).
New Jersey has shifted remarkably to the right, meaning Booker may be in for a fight in his next re-election — even with Big Tech cash in his pocket.
Sen. Cory Booker (D., N.J.) doesn’t represent Silicon Valley in Congress, but his history with the industry dates back at least to his time as Mayor of Newark, when he relied on his connections to Facebook, Google, and Twitter to fund a since-defunct video sharing website called Waywire.
Booker, who has fiercely criticized Elon Musk, one of the internet’s most successful entrepreneurs, failed in his attempt to make it big with a well-funded start up — but he made connections that can last a lifetime.
As Waywire was starting, Booker “personally obtained money…from influential investors, including Eric E. Schmidt, Google’s executive chairman,” the New York Times reported at the time. “A year after its debut, Waywire has already endured a round of layoffs and had just 2,207 visitors in [a single month].” While Waywire failed to take off, Booker recorded major financial benefits from it.
In 2013, Booker “revealed that his stake in the company was worth $1 million to $5 million. Taken together, his other assets were worth no more than $730,000.” The Times noted then that the disclosures show how wealthy tech moguls “not only made a financial bet on the mayor’s political future but also provided the brainpower and financing to help create a company that could make him very rich.”
Now ensconced in the Senate, Booker has sided with the tech industry on key votes, including his last-minute move to block a bipartisan anti-revenge porn bill introduced by Sens. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) and Amy Klobuchar (D., Minn.).
“It cleared 99 senators,” Cruz noted of Booker’s last-second objection to his bill, which was heading for unanimous passage. “He had a week and a half to object. Yesterday, this legislation was about to pass, and an hour before it was going to pass, the senator from New Jersey raised his objection.”
On a staffing level, Booker’s ties to tech date back over a decade. While serving as Mayor of Newark, the Times noted that “Waywire has also provided jobs for associates of Mr. Booker: the son of a top campaign supporter and his social media consultant, who is now on his Senate campaign staff.”
Booker’s reliance on the tech world for top jobs continued in D.C; his former chief of staff had been Facebook’s public policy director and his debate prepper represented Apple, Google, and Facebook in antitrust matters. The revolving doors has worked both ways; Booker’s former economic policy advisor left for Amazon to run the company’s financial services public policy.
A former House Judiciary Committee aide told the Washington Reporter that “Senator Booker’s ties to Big Tech is par for the course in DC.”
“How can his voters trust him to address the competition issues that Big Tech causes if he has deep ties to Big Tech?” the former aide said.
While New Jersey shifted markedly to the right in 2024, Booker has yet to face a competitive reelection. He has nevertheless raked in major contributions from Google’s parent company, Alphabet., Inc., Apple, and other tech giants during his successful Senate and unsuccessful presidential bids, according to campaign finance records reviewed by the Washington Reporter; he relied heavily on Silicon Valley support during his failed bid for the White House in particular.
Booker’s office did not respond to request for comment.