Sen. Cory Booker, on the shortlist of Democrats who might challenge President Trump in 2020, is trying to keep his relationship with Chanda Gibson, executive director of the Council of Urban Professionals, a secret, my source says.
Gibson, a single mother of two boys, has known Booker since she worked on his 2002 campaign for mayor of Newark, NJ.
Although the source said, “He’s been dating her on and off for years . . . No one could understand why he told her their relationship is secret,” the exact nature of their personal relationship is unclear.
Gibson told me, “I don’t have any comment.”
But the California native, who worked for 14 years at Goldman Sachs, told Forbes in April she considered Booker her “spiritual adviser” when she was working for him.
He once said to her, “If you want to do something you believe in, quit your job and come help me run for mayor,” and, she told Forbes, “within eight days, I had quit my job and found myself sleeping on an apartment floor in Newark. I had never been to Newark. I had never been to the East Coast! But I believed in Cory. I believed in what he was trying to do. It felt great being part of this amazing experience.”
The never-married Booker has been linked in the past to Hollywood entertainment lawyer Bianca Levin, “CBS Morning News” co-anchor Gayle King and most recently to Instagram-famous poet Cleo Wade.
Political opponents have tried spreading rumors that he is gay. But Booker has said, “People who think I’m gay, some part of me thinks it’s wonderful. Because I want to challenge people on their homophobia . . . I say, ‘So what does it matter if I am?’ ”
Booker’s office did not respond to a request for comment.