Cory Booker breaks record for longest Senate speech
Senator Cory Booker delivered the longest recorded floor speech in Senate history, breaking the record set by segregationist Sen. Thurmond in 1957.
WASHINGTON – No food. No chair. No bathroom breaks. Just two glasses of water.
Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., seized control of the Senate floor starting on Monday night and going into Tuesday with a record-breaking 25 hour (and five minute) speech that poured fire on the Trump administration and brought proceedings to a halt.
Booker broke the record for the longest known Senate speech set by late South Carolina Sen. Strom Thurmond, who held a time of 24 hours and 18 minutes for his filibuster against the 1957 Civil Rights Act, according to the Senate website.
Booker, who took the Senate floor at 7 p.m. on Monday, said that he planned to disrupt “the normal business of the United States Senate for as long as I am physically able.”
“I rise tonight because I believe sincerely that our country is in crisis…These are not normal times in America, and they should not be treated as such,” Booker said.
Here are the top five buzziest moments of Booker’s speech.
Booker says Democratic party made ‘terrible mistakes’
Since President Donald Trump took office, Democrats have struggled to organize an effective resistance against the current administration.
This was displayed last month, when Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., along with eight other Senate Democrats and an independent voted for a Republican crafted spending bill despite House Republicans urging them not to.
“I confess that I have been imperfect. I confess that I’ve been inadequate to the moment. I confess that the Democratic Party has made terrible mistakes – that it gave a lane to this demagogue,” Booker said, referring to Trump. “I confess we all must look in the mirror and say ‘we will do better.’”
He added that this was a pivotal moment for new leaders in the country to emerge.
“I’m not talking about senators,” he said. “I’m talking about citizens.”
12 hours later…still standing
At around 7 a.m., 12 hours after Booker took the Senate floor, he held up a copy of the Constitution.
“Twelve hours now I’m standing, and I’m still going strong, because this president is wrong, and he’s violating principles that we hold dear and principles in this document that are so clear and plain,” he said.
Throughout his speech, Booker railed against Trump and billionaire Elon Musk’s sweeping efforts to downsize federal agencies, the administration’s approach on immigration policy, the dismantling of the Department of Education and more.
Booker: ‘I’m here despite his speech’
As he was nearing Thurmond’s record, Booker said that to “hate” Thurmond, who supported racial segregation, is wrong.
“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,” Booker said. “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.”
He also gave a nod to late congressman and civil rights activist Rep. John Lewis in his speech. “He wouldn’t treat this moral moment like it was normal,” Booker said in the finale of his speech.
No bathroom breaks
Booker did not take any bathroom breaks during his lengthy speech. His spokesperson, Jeff Giertz, told NPR that he did not wear a diaper or catheter, either.
Shortly after he broke Thurmond’s record, Booker said in his speech, “I want to go a little bit past this, and then I’m gonna, I’m gonna deal with some of the biological urgencies I’m feeling.”
He later told reporters on Tuesday night that he hadn’t eaten since Friday and stopped drinking fluids on Sunday night so he wouldn’t have to use the restroom.
“That had its benefits and it had its really downsides and so instead of fighting or figuring out how to go to the bathroom I ended up I think really unfortunately dehydrating myself and I’m a former athlete so I know when you get dehydrated you get a lot of cramps. That was the biggest thing I was fighting,” he said.
Two glasses of water sat on his desk on the Senate floor, among other items.
Schumer congratulates him for breaking record
Towards the end of Booker’s marathon speech, Schumer lauded him for breaking Thurmond’s record.
“Would the senator yield for a question?” he asked, to which Booker replied jokingly, “Chuck Schumer, it’s the only time in my life I can tell you no.”
The senators in the chamber broke out in laughter.
“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, eliciting applause among those in the chamber.
The presiding officer called out “ladies and gentleman” several times until the chamber quieted down.