Cory Booker Discusses Life with Rosario Dawson After She Moved in with Him: 'It's Just Really Nice'

A new BuzzFeed News profile of Sen. Cory Booker's busy life offers a window into his relationship with Rosario Dawson, who recently moved in to the former presidential candidate's Newark, New Jersey, home.

The actress, 41, drove cross-country from Los Angeles this summer to live with her politician boyfriend, 51 — though an ongoing pandemic and election cycle mean the two don’t get as much time to themselves now as they might like. They've been so busy, in fact, that many of Dawson's boxes haven't yet been unpacked.

“We already know we're not gonna get to it until after the election,” Booker told BuzzFeed in the profile, published Saturday.

“This is the first time in my life I've really lived with somebody — and obviously Rosario and I are enjoying and adjusting to that, right?” Booker said.

Still, Booker is largely occupied with work: He is up for re-election (though running comfortably ahead of his Republican challenger, Rik Mehta) and attending the Senate confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett.

Dawson is understanding of his schedule, he told BuzzFeed. She herself is also busy advocating for various candidates and getting out the vote prior to the November election.

“I think we both realize that this is a ‘batten-down-the-hatches,’ ‘get-to-Nov.-3’ kinda thing," Booker said.

The two do still manage to carve out quality time, even if it's only 20 minutes at the kitchen table for breakfast or an early dinner after Dawson cooks a meal.

“I have not done that, really, as a bachelor, where I actually sit at a table and just, like, breathe and eat a meal," Booker told BuzzFeed. "And just set a table — I can't tell you how rarely do I set the table as a bachelor, you know, as a guy living alone. So it's just really nice to set a table, have somebody to say grace with, before a meal. It's just those small things really are, I'm finding, incredibly enriching."

Last October, Dawson told the Washington Post the couple had spent months apart due to the novel coronavirus but had kept in close contact via FaceTime and daily phone calls. The time apart provided the push they needed to make the leap into moving in together.

“I’m actually in the process of moving, by the way. I’m going to New Jersey. I’m moving to Newark," Dawson said at an event in June. "It's time. We were thinking about moving in together anyway, but especially during all of this, it’s been really intense."

Though Booker has historically demurred when it comes to questions about his relationship status, the senator has been more open about Dawson, who publicly supported his bid for president. The two were first linked in January 2019.

“Look, both of us, you know, we’ve had relationships,” Booker previously told the Post, “but I’m not sure if I’ve ever fully given myself over to a relationship as much as I have with her and allowed myself to be as vulnerable.”