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Booker took to the Senate floor on Monday evening saying he would remain there as long as he was “physically able.”
WASHINGTON — New Jersey Democratic Sen. Cory Booker carried an all-night speech in protest of President Donald Trump’s agenda into Tuesday morning.
Booker took to the Senate floor on Monday evening saying he would remain there as long as he was “physically able.” He was still on the floor more than 12 hours later.
“These are not normal times in our nation,” Booker said at the start of his speech. “And they should not be treated as such in the United States Senate. The threats to the American people and American democracy are grave and urgent, and we all must do more to stand against them,.”
Booker railed against cuts to Social Security offices and spoke to concerns that broader cuts to the social safety net could be coming, though Republican lawmakers say the program won’t be touched.
Donning and doffing reading glasses, Booker read what he said were letters from constituents. One writer was alarmed by the Republican president’s talk of annexing Greenland and Canada and a “looming constitutional crisis.”
“I hear you. I see you, and I’m standing here in part because of letters like yours, Booker said.
On Tuesday morning, Booker got some help from Democratic colleagues, who gave him a break from speaking to ask him a question. Booker said he would yield for questions but would not give up the Senate floor.
Ahead of his speech, Booker posted on X that he was “heading to the Senate floor because Donald Trump and Elon Musk have shown a complete disregard for the rule of law, the Constitution, and the needs of the American people.”
What is the longest someone has talked in the Senate?
According to the Senate’s website, the record for the longest individual speech belongs to Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, who filibustered for 24 hours and 18 minutes against the Civil Rights Act of 1957.
Booker invoked Thurmond and the civil rights leader Rep. John Lewis of Georgia on Tuesday morning, arguing that changing history would require the public to get involved.
“You think we got civil rights one day because Strom Thurmond — after filibustering for 24 hours — you think we got civil rights because he came to the floor one day and said, ‘I’ve seen the light,’” Booker said. ”No, we got civil rights because people marched for it, sweat for it and John Lewis bled for it.”
Booker, 55, is serving his second term in the Senate. He was an unsuccessful presidential candidate in 2020, when he launched his campaign from the steps of his home in Newark. He dropped out after struggling to gain a foothold in a packed field, falling short of a threshold to meet in a January 2020 debate.
Before taking to the national political stage, Booker was considered a rising star in the Democratic Party, serving as mayor of Newark, New Jersey’s largest city, from 2006 to 2013. A Rhodes Scholar and graduate of Stanford University and Yale Law, he started his career as an attorney for nonprofits. He served on the Newark City Council before becoming the city’s mayor.
He was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2013 during a special election held after the death of incumbent Democrat Frank Lautenberg. He won his first full-term in 2014 and then reelection in 2020.
Booker was at the helm in Newark when Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg announced a $100 million donation to improve the city’s schools in 2010. Roughly a decade ago, Zuckerberg told the AP a major lesson from Newark being applied in later donations was to make sure the desires of the public are considered.
