PHILADELPHIA _ Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., called for national and party unity Monday night at the Democratic National Convention, using a prime-time speech to urge voters to embrace togetherness, rather than the divisiveness he described in Donald Trump's campaign.
"In America," Booker said, "love, always trumps hate."
He got a roar then, near the end of a more than 20 minute address.
"You can't love your country without loving your countrymen and countrywomen," Booker said earlier. "We don't always have to agree, but we must empower each other, we must find the common ground, we must build bridges across our differences to pursue the common good."
Booker's prime-time address, citing Martin Luther King Jr., Abraham Lincoln, Maya Angelou and John F. Kennedy, gave him a national platform to sweeping themes of unity he has long promoted. Booker has been one of Hillary Clinton's top surrogates, and was said to be a finalist in her consideration of a running mate.
Booker pointed to Philadelphia's ties to the Declaration of Independence, but said America has thrived on interdependence.
"When we are indivisible," he said, "we are invincible."
Booker virtually shouted his lines while some in the crowd chanted "black lives matter," loud enough to be audible on television.
He spent much of his speech blasting Trump _ assailing his comments about immigrants, women, Muslims and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.
"Trump says he would run our country like he has run his businesses," Booker said. "Well, I'm from Jersey ... we've seen how he leads In Atlantic City. He got rich while his companies declared multiple bankruptcies."
Part of Booker's call for unity seemed aimed at Bernie Sanders supporters _ hailing Clinton's support for liberal causes such as easing income inequality, raising working wages and investing more in education. Those ideas, he said, show "the best of our values."
He ended with a call-and-response, urging Americans to "rise" as he quoted an Angelou poem.
"Here in Philadelphia," he said, "let us declare again that we will be a free people. Free from fear and intimidation."
Earlier Monday, Booker spoke to delegations from Pennsylvania, Louisiana, South Carolina and Florida, urging them to rally behind Clinton.
