Cory Booker's Marathon Speech

From March 31 to April 1, 2025, Cory Booker, the senior Democratic senator from New Jersey, delivered the longest recorded speech in United States Senate history while protesting the second presidency of Donald Trump and the operations of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency.

Booker began speaking at 7 p.m. EDT on March 31 and concluded at 8:05 p.m. on April 1, 2025. The speech lasted twenty-five hours and five minutes, surpassing the previous longest recorded speech in Senate history: Strom Thurmond's twenty-four-hour and eighteen-minute-long filibuster of the Civil Rights Act of 1957 by 47 minutes.

Background

The United States Senate does not limit debate unless limits have been imposed; in most circumstances, a senator who has been granted permission to speak by the presiding officer of the Senate may speak indefinitely so long as they "remain standing" and "speak more or less continuously."

In preparation, Booker had not drunk water since the preceding day to avoid having to stop the speech to use the bathroom. He also fasted for days leading up to the speech. Afterward, Booker said that rather than needing to use the bathroom, he instead felt dehydrated.

Booker's congressional staff prepared content for his speech, including writing talking points and gathering letters from constituents, which totaled over 1,164 pages of material. Booker claimed that they had prepared "ten binders" of content and periodically noted throughout his speech that he was "behind" on the pacing of his speech. Throughout the speech, staffers were seen delivering black binders to Booker's lectern.

Speech

The speech began at 7 p.m. EDT on March 31, 2025, before unrelated deliberations for Matthew Whitaker's nomination to serve as ambassador to NATO. Booker dedicated the beginning of his speech to John Lewis, a civil rights activist and representative who died in 2020, and explained that he took the floor "with the intention of disrupting the normal business of the United States Senate for as long as I am physically able." He stated that he believed the country was in crisis, saying "In just 71 days, the president of the United States has inflicted so much harm on Americans' safety, financial stability, the core foundations of our democracy, and even our aspirations as a people." Booker emphasized his belief in the need to challenge actions he believed undermine democratic institutions and the rule of law.

By midnight, Booker focused on the administration's proposal to cut Social Security and Medicare. He criticized efforts to reduce funding for these programs, highlighting the potential negative impact on millions of Americans who rely on the benefits. Booker then addressed attempts to eliminate the Department of Education, sharing testimonials from educators and students affected by the policies. Turning his attention to immigration enforcement practices, he argued that the administration was undermining public safety and violating constitutional rights, again sharing testimonials of people who were adversely affected.

By 9 a.m., Booker stated that Trump had abandoned America's allies, emboldening its enemies, and made the country less safe. Booker addressed the housing affordability crisis and referred to the vision outlined in Ezra Klein's book ''Abundance''. He criticized the administration's failure to address rent and home prices and provided testimonials of families facing eviction and homelessness due to unaffordable housing. Booker criticized environmental policy rollbacks and the administration's refusal to honor existing USDA contracts, emphasizing the destabilizing effects on rural communities.

A few minutes into the speech, one of Booker's staff directed a Senate page to remove his chair. He read from multiple three-ring binders, including articles from bipartisan sources and letters from his constituents, whom he described as "'terrified people' with 'heartbreaking' stories".

Booker invoked Arizona Senator John McCain and his vote to kill the American Health Care Act, a bill that would have partially repealed the Affordable Care Act. He read an account by Jasmine Mooney, a Canadian who was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, for thirty minutes of his speech.

Offering an apology from Democrats for the current political climate, Booker stated: "I confess that I've been inadequate. That the Democrats have been responsible for allowing the rise of this demagogue." He emphasized the role of Congress to hold the executive branch accountable, and decried his fellow congress members for failing to vote against the president's cabinet nominees and other policies.

Booker's speech protested Donald Trump's second presidency, including efforts to eliminate the Department of Education, ignore judicial mandates, and deport participants of the 2024 pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses. He criticized Trump and his advisor Elon Musk for having "shown a complete disregard for the rule of law, the Constitution, and the needs of the American people." Booker also criticized the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) led by Musk. Booker included a list of executive orders in Trump's second presidency during his speech.

Booker referenced John Lewis several times in his speech, stating,

I don't know what John Lewis would say, but John Lewis would do something. He would say something. What we will have to repent for is not the words and violent actions for bad people, but the appalling silence and inaction of good people. This is our moral moment.

According to David Smith of ''The Guardian'', "As Booker approached the 24-hour mark, most Senate Democrats took their seats and Democrats from the House of Representatives, including minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, sat or stood in the chamber. The public and press galleries swelled." Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer announced to Booker that he had broken the record at 24 hours and 18 minutes into the speech, prompting sustained and significant applause throughout the chamber.

Finally, at 8:05 p.m. EDT the next day, Booker yielded the floor and was immediately met with a standing ovation.

Chronology

While retaining the floor, Booker yielded to questions from 35 of his Democratic colleagues and one Independent colleague, which allowed him to rest. The two senators with the most questions were the Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, and Senator Chris Murphy, a close colleague of Booker's who stayed on the floor with him the entire speech. As they both mention during the speech, Booker played a similar role during Murphy's 2016 filibuster.

The table below shows the chronology of the speech, including topics discussed by Booker as well as questions posed to him by fellow senators. Topics in italics indicate subject divisions and refer to the binders Booker read from.

Outcome and result

At over 25 hours in length, Booker's speech became the longest speech in United States Senate history, surpassing the previous record of 24 hours and 18 minutes set by Senator Strom Thurmond, who began a filibuster to prevent the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1957.

Booker had been bothered by Thurmond holding the record, saying it "just really irked me, that he would be the longest speech — that the longest speech, on our great Senate floor, was someone who was trying to stop people like me from being in the Senate." During Booker's speech, just before breaking Thurmond's record, Booker said, "To hate him is wrong, and maybe my ego got too caught up in if I stood here maybe, 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."

Immediately following the speech, deliberations on Matthew Whitaker's nomination to serve as ambassador to NATO resumed on the Senate floor, resulting in the Senate confirming his nomination later that evening 52–45. However, Booker's speech was, according to David Smith, "not technically a filibuster" to prevent a piece of legislation from passing.

The speech was widely televised, appearing on C-SPAN and livestreamed on Booker's TikTok, YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram accounts. Several news organizations had live feeds for the speech, including the Associated Press, PBS, CBS News, MSNBC, and ''The Guardian''.

Booker received widespread praise from Democrats, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Representative Ilhan Omar, who stated that "this is the kind of relentless resistance our democracy demands." Former Vice President Kamala Harris praised Booker for amplifying the voices of Americans affected by the current administration's policies and for exemplifying leadership that uplifts others.

Senator Lisa Murkowski ( R- AK), a moderate Republican, congratulated Booker on setting a new record for the longest Senate floor speech.

The live stream of Booker's floor speech on TikTok received more than 350 million likes and, according to Senator Booker's office, was viewed by more than 300,000 people at once.

Analysis

Various media outlets and opinion columns characterized Booker's speech as a potential turning point for Democrats. '' Semafor''s Burgess Everett assessed the speech as a juxtaposition to the Democratic Party's "wait-and-see" strategy. Writing for ''The Guardian'', David Smith characterized the speech as a "primal act of resistance" and that Booker "made a persuasive case that an inability to do everything should not undermine an attempt to do ''something''." Hayes Brown, an opinion writer for MSNBC, called the speech a "rallying point for a demoralized party," and asked "whether Democrats can keep this energy going beyond this specific moment". Providing analysis for ''The Independent'', Richard Hall stated that Booker's speech was "both a sign of desperation and a call to arms", and that the Democratic party had so far struggled to find a response to Trump's administration. Nia-Malika Henderson, a politics and policy columnist for Bloomberg Opinion suggested that Booker's speech could "rebrand" the Democratic Party as more populist and less risk-averse, drawing parallels to political movements such as the Tea Party faction which eventually led to Trump's rise.

The speech was also noted by Steven Zeitchik of ''The Hollywood Reporter'' for its scope. Zeitchik praised Booker's speech as "the Screen Performance of the Year", describing the speech as a "cinematic spectacle". Zeitchik noted the variety in Booker's speech, stating that "you'd experience different arcs; come in at different moments and you'd infer different genres." Natalie Korach of '' Vanity Fair'' called the speech a masterclass in social media savvy, quoting a Booker aide that stated Booker had taken on a leadership role to "demonstrate to his colleagues the power of social media to reach people."

Ed Kilgore, a columnist for '' Intelligencer'', questioned the effectiveness of Booker's speech in stopping Trump.

Republican pollster Frank Luntz argued that the performance established Booker as a leading contender in the Democratic Party for the 2028 presidential election.

Notes

References

External links

''Congressional Record'' issue for March 31, 2025
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Proceedings and Debates of the 119th Congress, First Session, Volume 171, No. 57 (Part 1)
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Proceedings and Debates of the 119th Congress, First Session, Volume 171, No. 57 (Part 2)

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119th United States Congress
2025 in American politics
2025 speeches
African-American history of Washington, D.C.
April 2025 in the United States
Articles containing video clips
Marathon speech
Department of Government Efficiency
Elon Musk
March 2025 in the United States
Post–civil rights era in African-American history
Protests against Donald Trump
Protests against the second presidency of Donald Trump
Speeches by United States senators