Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., remembered the late Sen. Lindsey Graham as both a fierce political adversary and an “unlikely partner” during an interview with MS NOW’s Jacob Soboroff, after news on Saturday of the South Carolina Republican’s unexpected death at age 71. 

“I came to the Senate with models like Orrin Hatch and Teddy Kennedy — strange bedfellows who got big things done,” Booker recalled on Sunday’s “Connect with Jacob Soboroff.” Inspired by that bipartisanship, the senator said he “opened the door right away” to working with Graham “on things I thought we could align with.”

As the New Jersey Democrat noted, the two had their share of public disagreements, including heated confrontations as members of the Judiciary Committee over the Supreme Court confirmations of Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Ketanji Brown Jackson. 

“I mean, I played football in the Pac-10 and have banged my head and helmet with a lot of people, but I don’t think I headbutted anybody as hard as he and I,” Booker said of Graham.

But he said the Republican never allowed his political battles to overshadow the opportunity to find common ground. 

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Allison Detzel

Allison Detzel is an editor/producer for MS NOW. She was previously a segment producer for “AYMAN” and “The Mehdi Hasan Show.”