WASHINGTON — A San Francisco lawyer, civil rights activist and former Stanford University classmate of U.S. Sen. Cory Booker is setting up a super political action committee and plans to raise at least $10 million to support the New Jersey Democrat if he runs for president.

Steve Phillips, co-founder of the PowerPAC+ political committee that helped Booker win his initial election to the Senate in 2013, said he already has $4 million in pledges for Dream United, and said he expected to raise $10 million by March 31, the first campaign finance filing deadline for the 2020 presidential race.

“There is nobody who has a better chance of being the next president than Cory in terms of what the country needs,” Phillips told NJ Advance Media.

Combine that with Booker’s appeal to his fellow African-Americans, a major voting bloc in Democratic primaries, and you have a combination similar to what helped elect Barack Obama in 2008, said Phillips, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, a Democratic-leaning research group that has hosted Booker on several occasions.

Booker has yet to decide whether to run for president in 2020.

“Senator Booker continues to weigh with his family and friends whether he should run for president, and any effort to draft him into the race is outside of his control and will not affect his decision," Booker spokesman Jeff Giertz said. “There has been no activity on his part or that of his team to organize or endorse the creation of a super PAC.”

Super PACs, a byproduct of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision removing restrictions on corporate and union spending, can raise unlimited contributions from companies, unions and individuals, but must operate independently of candidates and cannot coordinate spending with them.

Such PACs, with their ability to raise millions of dollars beyond a candidate’s own political committee, have become almost a necessity for presidential candidate.

Former Gov. Chris Christie, for example, spent $8.4 million on his presidential campaign. His super PAC, America Leads, spent more than double that, $18.6 million, on his behalf, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington-based research group..

Even U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., propelled by a large network of small-dollar donations during his 2016 presidential race, benefited from $4.8 million in spending by the National Nurses United super PAC, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

But U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who already has entered the 2020 presidential race, said she will make an issue out of candidates raising large sums of money through super PACs.

“I think this is a moment for all of the Democratic candidates as they come into the race to say: In a Democratic primary, we are going to link arms and we’re going to grassroots funding," Warren said on MSNBC Dec. 31.

We cannot allow billionaires & giant corporations to buy our Democratic primary. Tonight I told Rachel @Maddow: Every Democratic candidate for President in 2020 should link arms & pledge to run grassroots campaigns funded by the people. Disavow Super PACs & self funding. pic.twitter.com/7kElQv9shc — Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) January 3, 2019

Booker already has faced criticism over his sources of campaign contributions, most notably his support from Wall Street donors and from employees of the pharmaceutical industry, which has a major presence in New Jersey.

Phillips said that won’t be an issue.

“I don’t think at the end of the day, people are going to really look at who’s backing a person,” he said. “They’re going to look at the candidate.”

In the 2018 election, Phillips worked on an unsuccessful effort to elect two black statewide candidates, Stacey Abrams for Georgia governor and Mike Espy for U.S. Senate from Mississippi.

Turning to 2020, Phillips said Americans want a president “who can help heal the country’s racial divide,” and Booker’s talk of unity and love in his speeches will resonate with voters.

“This notion of bringing country back to public policy and leadership based upon love is very deep and Cory is uniquely positioned to tap into that hunger,” Phillips said.

“I’m a strong believer in Cory’s leadership,” he said. “He understands what the country needs right now."

Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant or on Facebook. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.