Senator Cory Booker broke the record for the longest-held speech on the Senate floor on Tuesday, April 1.
U.S. Sen. Cory Booker had time (and endurance) on Monday night and throughout Tuesday.
On Tuesday evening, the 55-year-old New Jersey senator broke the record for the longest speech held on the Senate floor after he endured over 25 hours without taking a break, a seat, or consuming a single item of food. He also broke his own personal record of 15 hours. By the end, he said he was tired, dehydrated, and feeling achy.
“I didn’t know how long I could go. I’m so grateful I lasted for 25 hours,” Booker said wearily to reporters after he finished.
In order to prepare for such a feat, Booker, who confirmed he did not have to use the bathroom during the entire marathon speech, underwent an intense fast in the days before his speech.
“My strategy was to stop eating. I think I stopped eating on Friday, and then to stop drinking the night before I started on Monday. And that had its benefits and it had its really downsides,” he said, adding, “The biggest thing I was fighting was that different muscles were starting to really cramp up, and every once a while, spasm or something.”
He also prayed with Reverend Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., ahead of the speech.
His speech, which was largely in protest of President Donald Trump’s administration, DOGE, and the degradation of American democracy, began at 7 p.m. on Monday, March 31, and lasted until just 4 minutes past 8 p.m. on Tuesday, April 1, breaking the record previously held by Sen. Strom Thurmond, who led a filibuster in protest of the Civil Rights Act of 1957.
“Since I’ve gotten to the Senate, I always felt that it was a strange shadow hanging over this institution that the longest speech, of all the issues that have come up, of all the noble causes that people have done,” he continued. “The mission was really to elevate voices of Americans to tell some of their really meaningful stories, very emotional stories, and to let go and let God.”
In addition to his fast and few sips of water throughout the speech, Booker also made himself as physically light as possible by emptying out his pockets save for a notecard with a handwritten Bible verse on it: Isaiah 40:31.
“But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint,” Booker read for the reporters.
He stressed that even though Thurmond’s speech was on his mind, he did not have a set time in mind. After he made it past his own record of 15 hours, he felt invigorated to continue. At the conclusion of his speech, he wasn’t sure if this kind of tactic should become the new norm or if constituents could expect more of this energy from the Democrats. However, he did express that there’s a sense of urgency for him and his fellow Democrats to “do more.”
“There’s a lot of people out there asking Democrats to do more and to take risks and do things differently. This seemed like the right thing to do,” he said. “I just think a lot of us to do a lot more.”
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