Booker blames ‘everybody from Republicans to Russians’ for Democrats losing Michigan in 2016

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) on Wednesday pinned the Democrats’ loss of Michigan in the 2016 White House race on efforts to suppress black voters led by “everybody from Republicans to Russians.”

Booker maintained during the second of two Democratic presidential primary debates this week that President Trump was able to defeat Hillary Clinton in 2016 because of efforts to depress the turnout of black voters in the state, which Democrats previously won in every election since 1992.

“We lost the state of Michigan because everybody from Republicans to Russians were targeting the suppression of African American voters,” Booker said during the CNN-hosted debate in Detroit.{mosads}

“We need to have a campaign that is ready for what’s coming: an all-out assault, especially on the most valuable voter group — in fact the highest performing voter group in our coalition, which is black women.”

Booker appeared to be referencing studies detailing efforts by Russia to swing the 2016 election in Trump’s favor by targeting black Facebook users with content intended to dissuade them from voting.

Trump was the first Republican candidate to win in Michigan, seen as a reliable Democratic stronghold, since former President George H.W. Bush in 1988. Michigan is one of several blue states Trump flipped in 2016 that are crucial to his reelection chances in 2020.