WASHINGTON ― Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) wrapped a marathon 25-hour speech on Tuesday in protest of President Donald Trump’s policies, breaking the record for the longest Senate talk-a-thon set decades ago by infamous segregationist Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina. The 55-year-old New Jersey Democrat began speaking Monday evening shortly after 7 p.m., railing against the Trump administration’s efforts to demolish government agencies, cut taxes for wealthy Americans, and slash government safety net programs like Medicaid.
“I rise with the intention of getting in some good trouble,” Booker said at the start of his speech, referencing the phrase synonymous with the late civil rights leader and Georgia Congressman John Lewis. “I rise with the intention of disrupting the normal business of the United States Senate for as long as I am physically able.” He went on to criticize many of Trump and billionaire Elon Musk’s controversial moves, taking periodic breaks by yielding to questions from fellow Democrats without formally relinquishing the floor. His remarks lasted 25 hours and 5 minutes.
A senator can continue speaking uninterrupted on the floor as long as they remain standing and be physically present in the chamber. Booker’s speech is not considered a full-blown filibuster since it didn’t stall a bill or a nomination. However, his so-called “talking filibuster” did delay an expected vote on a bipartisan resolution attempting to overturn Trump’s tariffs on Canada. That vote is now expected to take place on Wednesday. Thurmond previously set the record for the longest Senate speech, at 24 hours and 18 minutes in length, in opposition to the Civil Rights Act of 1957. He was a Democrat at the time but later left the party due to its embrace of civil rights.
“To hate him is wrong,” Booker said Tuesday after breaking Thurmond’s record. “Maybe, just maybe, I could break this record of the man who tried to stop the rights upon which I stand. I’m not here though because of his speech. I’m here despite his speech. I’m here because as powerful as he was, the people were more powerful.” That it was Booker, the first Black senator to represent New Jersey, who eclipsed Thurmond’s record on Tuesday made the feat all the better for his Democratic colleagues.
“Cory isn’t doing it to break a record but I do know it would be amazing to have a racist pro-segregation speech erased from the Senate record books,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), who stayed on the Senate floor in support of Booker for much of the night, wrote in a post on social media. Murphy himself conducted a nearly 15-hour filibuster following the Orlando Pulse nightclub mass shooting in 2016 to push for a vote on gun control legislation. Booker also leapfrogged Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-Texas) speech of more than 21 hours that he launched in 2013 in support of defunding the Affordable Care Act. Cruz said he followed two pieces of advice for mounting a marathon speech on the Senate floor: “Number one, wear comfortable shoes. Number two, drink very little water.”
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“Whether you agree with him or not, the past 24+ hours was what most people think a filibuster actually looks like. Congratulations to [Sen. Booker]
for his historic feat (while staying on his feet!)” she wrote in a post on social media.
