Cory Booker's Marathon Speech
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From March 31 to April 1, 2025,
Cory Booker Cory Anthony Booker (born April 27, 1969) is an American politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from New Jersey, a seat he has held since 2013. A member of the Democ ...
, the senior Democratic senator from
New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...
, delivered the longest recorded speech in
United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...
history while protesting the
second presidency of Donald Trump Donald Trump's second and current tenure as the president of the United States began upon Second inauguration of Donald Trump, his inauguration as the List of presidents of the United States, 47th president on January 20, 2025. On his first ...
and the operations of
Elon Musk Elon Reeve Musk ( ; born June 28, 1971) is a businessman. He is known for his leadership of Tesla, SpaceX, X (formerly Twitter), and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Musk has been considered the wealthiest person in th ...
's
Department of Government Efficiency The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is an initiative by the second Trump administration within the federal government of the United States. Its stated objective is to modernize information technology, maximize productivity, and cut ...
. 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 James Strom Thurmond Sr. (December 5, 1902 – June 26, 2003) was an American politician who represented South Carolina in the United States Senate from 1954 to 2003. Before his 49 years as a senator, he served as the 103rd governor of South ...
's twenty-four-hour and eighteen-minute-long filibuster of the Civil Rights Act of 1957 by 47 minutes.


Background

The
United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...
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 Matthew George Whitaker (born October 29, 1969) is an American lawyer, politician, and diplomat serving as the 26th List of United States permanent representatives to NATO, United States permanent representative to NATO since 2025 in the Second ...
's nomination to serve as ambassador to NATO. Booker dedicated the beginning of his speech to
John Lewis John Robert Lewis (February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020) was an American civil rights activist and politician who served in the United States House of Representatives for from 1987 until his death in 2020. He participated in the 1960 Nashville ...
, 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 The essence of the rule of law is that all people and institutions within a Body politic, political body are subject to the same laws. This concept is sometimes stated simply as "no one is above the law" or "all are equal before the law". Acco ...
. By midnight, Booker focused on the administration's proposal to cut
Social Security Welfare spending is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifically to social insurance ...
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
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's book ''
Abundance Abundance may refer to: In science and technology * Abundance (economics), the opposite of scarcities * Abundance (ecology), the relative representation of a species in a community * Abundance, the defining characteristic of abundant numbers * ...
''. 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 The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that aims to meet the needs of commerc ...
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
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Senator
John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American statesman and United States Navy, naval officer who represented the Arizona, state of Arizona in United States Congress, Congress for over 35 years, first as ...
and his vote to kill the
American Health Care Act The American Health Care Act of 2017 (often shortened to the AHCA or nicknamed Ryancare) was a bill in the 115th United States Congress. The bill, which was passed by the United States House of Representatives but failed the United States ...
, a bill that would have partially repealed the
Affordable Care Act The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and informally as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by Presid ...
. He read an account by Jasmine Mooney, a Canadian who was detained by
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE; ) is a Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Homeland Security. ICE's stated mission is to protect the Un ...
, 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 A demagogue (; ; ), or rabble-rouser, is a political leader in a democracy who gains popularity by arousing the common people against elites, especially through oratory that whips up the passions of crowds, Appeal to emotion, appealing to emo ...
." 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 Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
'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 Pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses escalated from April 2024 until the summer, spreading List of pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses in the United States in 2024, in the United States and List of pro-Palestinian p ...
. He criticized Trump and his advisor
Elon Musk Elon Reeve Musk ( ; born June 28, 1971) is a businessman. He is known for his leadership of Tesla, SpaceX, X (formerly Twitter), and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Musk has been considered the wealthiest person in th ...
for having "shown a complete disregard for the rule of law,
the Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...
, and the needs of the American people." Booker also criticized the
Department of Government Efficiency The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is an initiative by the second Trump administration within the federal government of the United States. Its stated objective is to modernize information technology, maximize productivity, and cut ...
(DOGE) led by Musk. Booker included a list of executive orders in Trump's second presidency during his speech. Booker referenced
John Lewis John Robert Lewis (February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020) was an American civil rights activist and politician who served in the United States House of Representatives for from 1987 until his death in 2020. He participated in the 1960 Nashville ...
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 Charles Ellis Schumer ( ; born November 23, 1950) is an American politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from New York (state), New York, a seat he has held since 1999. ...
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 A standing ovation is a form of applause where members of a seated audience stand up while applauding, often after extraordinary performances of particularly high acclaim. Standing ovations are considered to be a special honor. Often they are ...
.


Chronology

While retaining the floor, Booker yielded to questions from 35 of his Democratic colleagues and one
Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...
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 The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...
history, surpassing the previous record of 24 hours and 18 minutes set by Senator
Strom Thurmond James Strom Thurmond Sr. (December 5, 1902 – June 26, 2003) was an American politician who represented South Carolina in the United States Senate from 1954 to 2003. Before his 49 years as a senator, he served as the 103rd governor of South ...
, who began a filibuster to prevent the passing of the
Civil Rights Act of 1957 The Civil Rights Act of 1957 was the first federal civil rights law passed by the United States Congress since the Civil Rights Act of 1875. The bill was passed by the 85th United States Congress and signed into law by President Dwight D. E ...
. 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
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and livestreamed on Booker's
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,
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,
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, and
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accounts. Several news organizations had live feeds for the speech, including the
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,
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,
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, 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 (Republican Party (United States), R-Alaska, 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 TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...
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 (website), Semafor''s Burgess Everett assessed the speech as a juxtaposition to the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party's "wait-and-see" strategy. Writing for ''The Guardian'', David Smith (journalist), 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 movement, 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 (magazine), 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 (website), 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 United States presidential election, 2028 presidential election.


Notes


References


External links


''Congressional Record'' issue for March 31, 2025
*
Proceedings and Debates of the 119th Congress, First Session, Volume 171, No. 57 (Part 1)
*
Proceedings and Debates of the 119th Congress, First Session, Volume 171, No. 57 (Part 2)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Booker Marathon Speech 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 Cory Booker, 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