Cory Booker Tweets Through First Day as a Senator

By Arlette Saenz October 31, 2013

Cory Booker took off his hat as mayor of Newark, N.J., and officially became a U.S. Senator today.

Booker, well known for his heroic antics and affinity for Twitter, was sworn in by Vice President Joe Biden Thursday afternoon after winning a special election to fill the seat of former Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., who passed away this summer.

In typical Booker fashion, the former Newark Mayor tweeted in the lead up to his swearing-in.

And Booker got right to work. Immediately after taking the oath as a senator, Booker cast votes in favor of invoking cloture on two controversial nominees - Mel Watt to be the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and Patricia Millett to be the U.S. Circuit Judge for the District of Columbia Circuit. Republicans ultimately filibustered each of the nominations, which failed to move on.

Booker's entry in the Senate increases the Democrat's control to 55-45. Following the death of Lautenberg, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie appointed long-time friend and former N.J. Attorney General Jeffrey Chiesa, a Republican, to fill the vacancy.

This was his first tweet since officially being sworn in:

Thursday afternoon, Booker, who is now one of two African Americans in the U.S. Senate, met privately with President Obama at the White House.

And Booker, who enters the Senate at a time when Washington is more divided than ever - started his day by passing on a little inspiration and, perhaps, hints of bipartisanship (on Twitter, of course):