Oprah hosting fundraiser for Cory Booker

{mosads}According to a listing on the Sunlight Foundation’s Political Partytime website, the fundraiser is scheduled for this Thursday at a New Jersey restaurant. Tickets range from $1,000 to $2,600.

Booker and Oprah are famously friends, having been introduced by their mutual friend, Gayle King. Oprah has donated $1.5 million to Newark nonprofits and interviewed Booker on her television network.

This isn’t the first celebrity that’s offered a helping hand to Booker’s Senate bid.  Oscar-winning director Steven Spielberg and “Alias” actress Jennifer Garner, among others, gave thousands to the candidate last quarter, boosting his eventual haul to $4.6 million.

The celebrity friendships have opened him up to attacks from his opponents, who have accused him of spending too much time jet-setting to California and not enough working on Newark’s problems. But Booker remains the front-runner in every poll of the race and is heavily favored to win in the Aug. 13 Democratic primary.

Democrats are expected to retain the seat in the general election.