Updated April 02, 2025 at 07:17 AM ET
Sen. Cory Booker spent a full day standing on the Senate floor, delivering an impassioned speech in protest of the Trump administration's policies. His effort, which involved dozens of Senate Democrats, set a record for the longest speech on record in the chamber.
Booker wiped away tears and placed his hand over his heart as fellow Democrats cheered at the end of his 25-hour, 4-minute speech. Others were seen crying and some rushed to hug the visibly exhausted and emotional Booker.
The New Jersey Democrat took the podium at 7 p.m. EDT on Monday, vowing to speak "for as long as I am physically able."
"I've been hearing from people all over my state and indeed all over the nation calling upon folks in Congress to do more, to do things that recognize the urgency, the crisis of the moment," Booker said in a video posted to social media beforehand. "And so we all have a responsibility, I believe, to do something different, to cause — as [late Rep.] John Lewis said — 'good trouble,' and that includes me."
He finished his speech just after 8 p.m. EDT on Tuesday — with a tribute to Lewis ending in the words "let's get in good trouble" — earning a new record for lengthiest remarks delivered in the Senate.
Booker's speech officially surpassed the previous record set in 1957 by noted segregationist Strom Thurmond, who filibustered for 24 hours and 18 minutes to oppose the Civil Rights Act. And it was widely viewed online: By the evening, his speech had eclipsed 350 million likes on TikTok live, and more than 115,000 people were watching his office's livestream on YouTube.
Booker's speech took aim at President Trump, White House senior adviser Elon Musk and policies that he said show a "complete disregard for the rule of law, the Constitution and the needs of the American people."
The speech covered a wide range of topics, from health care and Social Security to immigration, the economy, public education, free speech and foreign policy. And it included portions of letters that Booker said he had received from affected constituents, as well as public comments from world leaders, in recent weeks.
"In just 71 days, the president has inflicted harm after harm on Americans' safety, financial stability, the foundations of our democracy and any sense of common decency," Booker said in his introductory remarks. "These are not normal times in our nation. And they should not be treated as such in the United States Senate."
Trump and Musk have not commented publicly on Booker's speech. It comes at a tense time for Booker's party: Nine Democrats joined with Republicans to advance a Trump-backed spending bill last month, preventing a government shutdown but alienating constituents who want lawmakers to push back against the president's agenda.
Booker, 55, did not pull out the phone book or children's literature to read from, as some of his predecessors have done on the Senate floor. He stayed focused on the topic of Trump's agenda and how he said it is hurting everyday Americans — weaving together domestic and foreign policy concerns.
In the 15th hour, he said he still had "fuel in the tank." About 16 hours and 24 minutes in, Booker looked at the time and said, "We are way behind the schedule of where we wanted to be at this point." But he didn't immediately move to wrap things up.
"And so to obey my staff, as senators are told to do, I want to move quickly to housing issues," he said at that point.
Some eight hours after that, as Booker was talking, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer broke in to ask him a question — as a rotating cast of Democrats had been doing all day, to make his speech more of an exchange than a monologue.
"I just want to tell you a question: Do you know you have just broken the record? Do you know how proud this caucus is of you? Do you know how proud America is of you?" Schumer asked, as the room burst into a lengthy round of applause. Booker, looking moved, wiped his face with a tissue and put his hand over his heart.
Booker's achievement stands in stark contrast to Thurmond's lengthy filibuster aiming to deny Black Americans equal protections under federal law. Booker later told reporters that he had been "very aware" of Thurmond's efforts since entering the Senate over a decade ago.
"Of all the issues that have come up, all the noble causes that people have done or the things that people have tried to stop, I just found it strange that he had the record," said Booker, who is Black. "And as a guy who grew up with legends of the Civil Rights Movement myself, my parents and their friends, it just seemed wrong to me, it always seemed wrong."
What are the rules?
The use of long speeches to delay legislation, known as a filibuster, is a time-honored tradition in the Senate. But that's not technically what Booker's speech was, since he was not trying to block a specific bill or nominee.
Under Senate rules, unless special limits on debate are in effect, a senator who has been recognized by the presiding officer can speak for as long as they wish, according to the Congressional Research Service.
"They usually cannot be forced to cede the floor, or even be interrupted, without their consent," it says.
They must meet a few requirements, however. For one, the senator must "remain standing and must speak more or less continuously," the Congressional Research Service states, which becomes more difficult as the hours pass.
Sen. Murphy posted on X on Monday night that Booker had employed an "interesting tactic" to that effect.
"Cory had a Senate page take his chair away to eliminate any temptation to sit down," he wrote, just under three hours into the speech.
Booker employed another strategy throughout the day: permitting his fellow Democrats to ask questions, which is the only way a senator can yield without losing the floor. But it's only partial relief: The senator must remain standing while others are talking.
"I will yield for a question while retaining the floor," Booker responded each time a senator asked for his permission.
More than a dozen Democrats participated in the proceedings throughout Tuesday morning, including Murphy, Sen. Andy Kim of New Jersey, Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont, Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Sens. Tina Smith and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia, Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Sens. Chris Van Hollen and Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland, Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire and Sen. Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico.
Booker paused for a brief prayer by the Senate chaplain at noon, following a long-standing Senate rule. Chaplain Barry Black specifically thanked "floor staff, Capitol police, stenographers, the pages and all those who have worked throughout the night." Later, after wrapping up his remarks, Booker also thanked staff, acknowledging, "I kept you up 24 hours."
What other Democrats said
The participating senators each spoke for several minutes about various issues Booker had mentioned, from Medicaid to tariffs to national security, veterans affairs, agriculture and housing. They asked Booker questions — giving him time to elaborate on their topics of choice — and applauded his persistence.
"I thank the gentlemen for his fortitude, his strength and the crystalline brilliance with which he has shown the American people the huge dangers that face them with this Trump-DOGE-Musk administration," Schumer said at the end of his second round of questioning on Tuesday morning, referring to the Department of Government Efficiency that Musk oversees.
Booker also heaped praise on his colleagues, talking up their accomplishments and shared work experience. While the tone of his speech was somber, there were some moments of levity between lawmakers.
At one point, Klobuchar — who had quoted Minnesota native Bob Dylan — asked Booker to name his favorite New Jersey musician, and he gracefully deflected.
Later, while responding to Schumer's praise, Booker joked that "never before in history in America has a man from Brooklyn said so many complimentary things about a man from Newark." When Schumer responded by saying they were both New York Giants fans, Booker reminded him that the team plays in New Jersey and would discuss it no further.
"This is not a colloquy," he said with mock seriousness as those in the room laughed. "I hold the floor — I do not yield
How Booker broke the record (fasting was involved)
The longer Booker kept talking, the closer he got to the history books.
His efforts surpassed more recent efforts such as those of Murphy, who led Democrats in a push for gun control legislation that lasted 15 hours, after the Pulse nightclub shooting in 2016 in Orlando, Florida. Booker was by his side for that entire speech and said Tuesday that Murphy had returned the favor.
Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas held the floor for 21 hours and 19 minutes as he advocated unsuccessfully for defunding the Affordable Care Act in 2013 — more than eight hours longer than Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky did when he filibustered John Brennan's CIA nomination months earlier.
Cruz's speech was one of the longest ever on the Senate floor, according to records shared with NPR by the U.S. Senate Historical Office. As Booker approached his record, Cruz tweeted Tuesday afternoon that he was "contemplating pulling the fire alarm."
The next-longest was a 1953 filibuster by then-Independent Sen. Wayne Morse of Oregon, who spoke for 22 hours and 26 minutes against an oil bill. After that, the longest filibuster on record had been Thurmond's 1957 speech, which lasted 24 hours and 18 minutes.
Media reported at the time that Thurmond sustained himself with "diced pumpernickel and bits of cooked hamburger" and sips of orange juice. His aides set up a bucket in the cloakroom so he could keep a foot on the Senate floor if he needed to relieve himself.
Similar questions abounded about Booker's well-being on Tuesday, especially after he alluded to some "biological urgencies" toward the end of his speech.
His communications director, Jeff Giertz, told NPR just before the end of the speech that Booker was not wearing a catheter or a diaper, despite speculation.
Booker told reporters afterward that he had fasted for days before the speech and stopped drinking water "a long time ago."
"I think that had good and bad benefits," he said, sounding hoarse. "I definitely started cramping up from lack of water ... There's just a lot of tactics I was using to try to make sure that I could stand for that long."
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