--- alias: - Cory Anthony Booker - Senator Cory Booker born: 1969-04-27 category: Political Figure created: 2026-06-20 location: Washington, D.C. (born); Newark, New Jersey (political base) summary: Cory Booker is a U.S. Senator from New Jersey whose name appeared on the leaked 2026 roster of Peter Thiel's Dialog society and whose political rise was financed in part by Silicon Valley figures including Eric Schmidt, who backed his 2012 video startup Waywire. tags: - Person - CoryBooker - DemocraticParty - NewJersey - Senate - SiliconValley - Waywire - Dialog updated: 2026-06-20 --- Cory Anthony Booker (born April 27, 1969, in [Washington, D.C.](/places/washington-dc/)) is an American politician who served as mayor of Newark, New Jersey, from 2006 to 2013 and has been a U.S. Senator from New Jersey since 2013. In June 2026 Booker was named by *WIRED* among the figures surfaced in the leak of [Dialog](/organizations/dialog/), the invitation-only society cofounded by [Peter Thiel](/people/peter-thiel/) and [Auren Hoffman](/people/auren-hoffman/). His political career has been entwined with Silicon Valley money since his Newark mayoralty, most visibly through the 2012 video startup Waywire, whose backers included former Google chairman [Eric Schmidt](/people/eric-schmidt/).[^1][^2] ### Education and Newark Mayoralty Booker earned bachelor's and master's degrees from [Stanford University](/organizations/stanford-university/), won a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University, and graduated from Yale Law School. He moved to Newark and won a seat on the city council before being elected mayor in 2006, holding the office until he entered the Senate. His mayoralty cultivated a national donor and media profile unusual for a mid-sized-city mayor, including a much-publicized relationship with technology-industry philanthropists; in 2010 he secured a 100 million dollar gift from [Mark Zuckerberg](/people/mark-zuckerberg/) for the Newark public schools, announced on the Oprah Winfrey program.[^3] In October 2013 Booker won a special election to fill the U.S. Senate seat left vacant by the death of Frank Lautenberg, and he has been reelected to full terms since. In the Senate he has aligned with the [Democratic Party](/organizations/democratic-party/) establishment while maintaining the Silicon Valley fundraising base he built as mayor, drawing campaign contributions from technology executives and venture capitalists including [Marc Andreessen](/people/marc-andreessen/) and [Reid Hoffman](/people/reid-hoffman/).[^1][^3] ### Waywire and the Silicon Valley Backers In 2012 Booker cofounded Waywire, a video-sharing and curation startup, with Nathan Richardson, formerly of Gilt City, and Sarah Ross. The venture raised roughly 1.75 million dollars in seed funding from a roster of backers that included Eric Schmidt, LinkedIn chief executive Jeff Weiner, Oprah Winfrey, and the talent manager Troy Carter. The site launched publicly in April 2013, while Booker was simultaneously mayor of Newark and a declared Senate candidate.[^2][^4] A New York Times investigation by Nicholas Confessore, published August 7, 2013, reported that Booker held an equity stake in Waywire that his disclosure filings valued at between one million and five million dollars, and that several of the startup's investors had also donated to his Senate campaign. The reporting drew conflict-of-interest scrutiny because the same Silicon Valley figures financing his commercial venture were financing his political one. Amid the controversy, the company's underage profile of a media executive's teenage son drew criticism, and Waywire was sold to Magnify.net in October 2013; Booker pledged to give his proceeds from the stake to charity.[^2][^4][^5] ### The 2026 Dialog Leak The June 16, 2026 *WIRED* report identified Booker on the Dialog roster as "Senator (D-NJ)," listing him among the sitting U.S. senators of both parties surfaced when the hacktivist [crimew](/people/maia-arson-crimew/) located a member directory in the source code of Dialog's website and a separate source provided the publication with the 222-name registration list for the society's August 2026 retreat near Dublin. *WIRED* placed Booker alongside fellow senator [Ted Cruz](/people/ted-cruz/) and Colorado governor [Jared Polis](/people/jared-polis/) among the political figures on the list.[^1] Dialog was cofounded by Thiel and Auren Hoffman, the data broker behind [SafeGraph](/organizations/safegraph/) and LiveRamp. The roster listed Booker among the society's technology, finance, and political registrants.[^1] [^1]: Cameron, Dell, and Yulia Almazova. "Leak Exposes Members of Peter Thiel's Secretive 'Dialog' Society." *WIRED,* June 16, 2026. https://www.wired.com/story/leak-exposes-members-of-peter-thiels-secretive-dialog-society/ [^2]: "Examining Cory Booker's Tech Ties." *Inc.,* 2013. https://www.inc.com/christine-lagorio/examining-cory-bookers-tech-ties.html [^3]: "About Cory." Office of U.S. Senator Cory Booker. https://www.booker.senate.gov/about-cory [^4]: Confessore, Nicholas. "Cory Booker, in Senate Race, Stresses Ties to Web Start-Ups." *New York Times,* August 7, 2013. Summarized in "Cory Booker's Silicon Valley cash." *Columbia Journalism Review,* 2013. https://www.cjr.org/the_audit/nyts_excellent_booker_startup.php [^5]: "Cory Booker's Role In Startup Waywire Is Shady, Unsurprisingly." *The New Republic,* 2013. https://newrepublic.com/article/114197/cory-bookers-role-startup-waywire-shady-unsurprisingly