For 25 hours and 5 minutes, Senator Cory Booker commanded the Senate floor, delivering a blistering critique of the Trump administration and surpassing a nearly 70-year-old speaking record.
Booker, a 55-year-old Democratic senator from New Jersey, prepped extensively for his marathon performance.
Restricting his eating for days and limiting his fluids, Booker took to the Senate floor with 1,164 pages of prepared material and more than 200 stories from New Jersey residents and Americans nationwide, aimed at criticizing Trump’s actions.
Booker was first elected to the Senate in 2013 and ran for president in the 2020 election, but did not garner enough support.
Boisterous applause filled the chamber when Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer informed Booker that his speech had become the longest in Senate history.
Booker surpassed the previous 1957 record of 24 hours and 18 minutes set by Senator Strom Thurmond. Thurmond’s speech was a filibuster aimed at halting the Civil Rights Act, which was ultimately passed in 1964. While Booker’s speech was not a filibuster, it served as a symbolic and memorable critique of the current administration’s agenda.
The moment was historic in many ways, particularly due to the contrast between a segregationist opposing civil rights and a Black senator advocating for democracy.
Booker began his opening remarks by stating, “These are not normal times.” Between Monday evening and Tuesday, when he concluded, Booker discussed cuts to government institutions including Social Security and the Department of Education, and the reduction of over 100,000 federal workers. He argued that these institutions were being unconstitutionally attacked.
“In just 71 days, the president has inflicted harm after harm on Americans’ safety, financial stability, the foundations of our democracy and any sense of common decency,” Booker said in his opening remarks. “These are not normal times in our nation. And they should not be treated as such in the United States Senate.”
Throughout his speech, without eating, sleeping or taking bathroom breaks, Booker continued to press forward, passionately advocating for changes in American democracy.
“I may be afraid — my voice may shake — but I’m going to speak up more,” Booker said.
To give Booker brief moments of rest, many Democratic senators posed questions during his speech, allowing him to catch his breath before continuing his remarks.
Booker concluded his address by quoting his late mentor, Rep. John Lewis, referencing the need to get into “good trouble.” With that, he yielded the floor and limped away. As his speech ended, applause erupted from the packed Senate chamber.
Many politicians responded to his historic effort, including Vice President Kamala Harris, who shared her support in an Instagram post.
“The true measure of a leader is not based on who you beat down but on who you lift up. For over 24 hours, my friend @corybooker stood on the floor of the Senate and lifted up the voices of the American people harmed by the current administration. We must continue to fight for the best of who we are as Americans. Thank you, Cory, for your leadership,” Harris wrote.
However, there was also criticism of Booker’s actions.
“Cory Booker is looking for another ‘I am Spartacus’ moment, but that didn’t work for his failed presidential campaign, and it didn’t work to block President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh. When will he realize he’s not Spartacus — he’s a spoof?” White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said in a statement.
Hour-by-hour coverage of his speech can be found here.
