Newark Mayor Cory Booker is known for using his Twitter account to communicate with his 1.4 million followers and frequently share his schedule of ribbon cuttings, football games and speeches. However, his exchange of flirtacious messages with a 26-year-old stripper on the social media platform has put him in the hot seat.
On Wednesday, direct messages shared between the 44-year-old politician and Lynsie Lee, a Portland-based exotic dancer, back in February were made public. In the exchange, Booker wrote to Lee, "And the East Coast loves you and by the East Coast, I mean me," reports the New York Daily News.
"Well now I'm blushing :)," she replied.
"It's only fair," Booker writes.
Although the messages were racier than the mayor's usual Twitter posts, his office insisted on Thursday that the interaction was "innocuous."
"It is obviously pretty innocuous, and quite frankly there is nothing there," wrote Booker spokesman Kevin Griffis in a statement to CNN.
"I think it's pretty well known that the mayor talks with people from all walks of life on Twitter," Griffis said. "Really, the most shocking part of this story was learning there is a vegan strip club in Portland."
After the exchange, which occurred between Feb. 24 and Feb. 26, Booker and Lee also publicly tweeted each other in March.
Once the story broke, Lee unleashed a series of tweets joking about the attention and defending the beloved mayor.
"Cory responded in the most gentlemanly of ways. You should see the other celebrity creeper DMs I've received hahahaha," Lee tweeted. "I love the instant notoriety but really a single man flirting with a beautiful woman isn't much news. We both have legal jobs," she added.
"Don't forget to go donate to @CoryBooker's campaign for senate ;)," she wrote, linking to his page.
Booker, who is not married, is running for Senate in New Jersey to replace the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg in a special election on Oct. 16. Recent polls show that he's far ahead of his opponent, Republican Steve Lonegan with a 26 percent lead, according to a Stockton Polling Institute poll released on Monday.
Needless to say, it doesn't seem likely that Booker's Twitter exchanges with Lee will have much effect in swaying voters.