Cory Booker makes a healthy pit stop at Breadless during Detroit visit

Detroit — While visiting Motown to raise awareness for ballot issues ahead of the midterm elections next week, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker stopped by Breadless, a health-conscious cafe that opened in Detroit in March.

Booker, who rolled up in a Chevy pickup in Detroit, said he noticed a lot of "energy and enthusiasm."

He has spent the election season traveling all over the country, and was expected to head to Milwaukee next. He said after a day in Detroit, he's inspired that there will be high turnout in Michigan.

"I think the one thing that I noticed that I don't always hear is how many people were telling me 'vote the whole ballot' There's a lot of things for voting rights to reproductive rights on the ballot and people seem very aware of that," he said.

The 53-year-old Democrat and dedicated vegan popped into the Rivertown-area sandwich shop to meet with owners Marc Howland, LaTresha Howland and Ryan Eli Salter. They talked to Booker about what inspired them to start a healthy food business in Detroit.

"I'm just so impressed with all the vegan options," said Booker. "This is making my heart sing."

Booker traded his suitcoat for a green "Breadless" apron and got behind the counter to try his hand at making one of the low-carb sandwiches, which are wrapped in sturdy greens instead of bread. He chose the spicy chickpea wrap with smashed falafel, spicy vegan aioli, pickled turnips, Arabic pickles, tomatoes and onions wrapped in turnip and collard greens.

"'Spicy chickpea' is what my nickname was in college," Booker said, joking, as he assembled his wrap with the help of a skilled Breadless employee.

Booker has family ties to the city. His grandparents moved here during the Great Depression, his grandfather was a member of the UAW and his mother, Carolyn Booker, was born in Detroit.

"I'm a product of Detroit," he said. "A lot of my grandfather's stories and my mother's stories were about here, working the assembly line, the small businesses they started, victory gardens ... great stories about what this community did, especially the unions."

Booker is among a few of the nationally known Democrats who have visited Metro Detroit recently to support Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. President Barack Obama spoke at Renaissance High School in Detroit on Saturday and Vice President Kamala Harris was in town in mid-October.

mbaetens@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @melodybaetens