Cory Booker: Yep, I'm Straight!

Sorry, political animals: Sen. Cory Booker says he's straight.

Speculation about Sen. Cory Booker's sexuality has only grown since he's emerged as a potential Democratic contender for the presidency in 2020. A salacious – as well as anonymous and evidence-free - tale of men's room sexual harassment even began circulating just after the New Jersey senator aggressively went after Brett Kavanaugh during the confirmation hearing for the newest Supreme Court justice. That story so lacked credibility that even Fox News pundit Laura Ingraham dismissed it out of hand.

But with every whisper that Booker might be gay, there comes the answering reply, delivered almost conversationally, that affirms he is straight. The Philadelphia Inquirer ran a recent article on Booker, who is a bachelor, and suggested that his status as a single man might actually play to his advantage even though Americans have traditionally voted to put married men into the Oval Office.

Booker himself seemed to think so, telling the Inquirer, "Clearly the norms of family relationships have been changed dramatically as you've seen people across this country being elected to offices with all different kinds of family situations, including the president who has had three spouses."

Added Booker, "I've always trusted the voters enough to evaluate me on the content of my character, quality of my ideas, and my ability to do the job."

That could well be code for "Voters won't care if I'm gay as long as I convince them I am the right one for the job," but in Booker's case there's no such subtext intended; as Booker told the Inquirer, directly addressing the crux of the question, "I'm heterosexual." Not that he seemed to think it would matter much if he weren't: "Every candidate should run on their authentic self, tell their truth, and more importantly, or most importantly, talk about their vision for the country," he went on to say.

For all the spec-gay-lative whispering that Booker's opponents indulge in – at least, the ones who think voters actually care about it – the press has had more fun with the senator's healthy, and heterosexual, dating life, including what Page Six seemed to regard as an open secret regarding Cooker's alleged romantic ties with Council of Urban Professionals head Chandra Gibson, who is a single mother.

Page Six offered a quick recap of at least some of Booker's purported relationships, all of them with women, a roster that the publication claimed includes "Hollywood entertainment lawyer Bianca Levin, 'CBS Morning News' co-anchor Gayle King, and most recently... Instagram-famous poet Cleo Wade."

The kaleidoscope of supposed love connections swirls even as Booker consistently refuses to be rankled by rumors. Shrugging off talk that he might like men, Booker – as Page Six noted and quoted – had this to say: "People who think I'm gay, some part of me thinks it's wonderful... I say, 'So what does it matter if I am?' "

Picking up on the story, political news source The Hill noted that a recent poll in Iowa gave Booker a result of four percent.