⁠Who Is Cory Booker? US Senator Delivers Record-Breaking 25-Hour Speech Against Donald Trump

Democratic Senator Cory Booker staged a historic protest on the Senate floor over two days against the alleged harm the US President Donald Trump’s administration was causing the American public. The New Jersey Democrat spoke for 25 hours and 5 minutes, according to his office, setting a new record for the longest floor speech in the chamber’s modern history.

The 55-year-old senator, a former football tight end, began speaking at 7 p.m. ET on Monday, vowing to continue as long as he was “physically able.” He told CNN that he had started with nothing but a Bible verse in his pocket. His speech ended at 8:05 p.m. ET on Tuesday (Apr. 1), after which he limped off the floor, having broken the record for the longest continuous Senate floor speech.

By standing on the Senate floor for over a night and a day without yielding, Booker surpassed a 68-year-old record set by Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, a segregationist and Southern Democrat, who filibustered the Civil Rights Act in 1957.

Booker’s marathon session comes as his party faces growing pressure from its supporters to take a stronger stand against Trump. His speech stands out as one of the most prominent acts of protest by a Democratic lawmaker during Trump’s second term.

Shifting his weight from foot to foot and leaning on his podium, Booker spoke for hours against cuts to Social Security offices, which he attributed to Trump adviser Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, according to a report in AP. He outlined the effects of Trump’s early executive orders and voiced concerns that deeper cuts to social welfare programmes could follow.

The only pauses in his speech came when he briefly halted for the chamber’s prayer at noon on Tuesday and when he responded to questions from fellow Senate Democrats at various intervals, according to CNN.

As the hours passed, Booker appeared to sustain himself with just a few glasses of water. He later told reporters that he had fasted for days leading up to the speech and had stopped consuming fluids the night before.

At the start of his speech on Monday night, the New Jersey senator stated that he was speaking in the spirit of the late John Lewis, the civil rights icon and long-serving US congressman. As he approached the record-breaking mark, Booker reflected on his respect for Lewis and became emotional, saying that he had promised to make him proud in his final days.

Booker has represented New Jersey in the Senate since 2013. He is the state’s first Black senator. He is currently one of only five Black senators in the 100-member chamber, according to CNN.

Born and raised in northern New Jersey, Booker earned undergraduate and master’s degrees from Stanford University. While at Stanford, he played varsity football, volunteered as a peer counsellor and contributed to the student newspaper. He later became a Rhodes Scholar, studying at the University of Oxford before completing his law degree at Yale in 1997, according to his website.

After law school, Booker moved to Newark and founded a non-profit organisation that provided legal services to low-income families, assisting tenants in disputes with landlords.

At 29, Booker was elected to the Newark City Council, where he challenged the entrenched political establishment and worked to improve economic security, expand healthcare access and improve public safety for city residents.

He served as Newark’s mayor from 2006 to 2013. In October 2013, Booker won a special election to represent New Jersey in the US Senate. He was re-elected in November 2014 for a full six-year term.

Before Booker’s speech, the longest Senate floor speech was delivered by Senator Strom Thurmond in 1957, lasting 24 hours and 18 minutes.

Booker's speech also surpassed other marathon sessions in recent years, including Senator Ted Cruz’s 21-hour filibuster against Obamacare in 2013 and Senator Chris Murphy’s 15-hour speech on gun control, according to CBS News.