Cory Booker Sets American Record With Day-Long Senate Speech

By Luke Strong

For US Senator Cory Booker, the start of April signified that he had merely reached the 5 hour mark of his current speech, which would eventually last 25 hours and 5 minutes, becoming the longest speech in the US Senate [1][4].

Senator Booker, a Democratic Senator from New Jersey, began speaking at 7pm on March 31^st, seeking to interrupt “the normal business of the United States Senate for as long as I am physically able [2]” Historically, marathon speeches have sought to sabotage specific legislation. Known as filibusters, these speeches keep open the debate on specific bills, which require 60 votes to force a closure. But Senator Booker was not interested in highlighting his displeasure with a certain bill. Instead, his speech sought to highlight the significant harms he believed the Trump administration had caused over the prior 71 days of its existence.

After the speech, Senator Booker shared that he had fasted for days in advance of his speech and refused to drink water from the night before to ensure that he could speak as uninterrupted as possible [3]. This resolve, despite discomfort, allowed him to maximize his physical endurance without needing to yield for a speech-ending break. As such, the only time he spent not speaking was during brief yields to fellow Democrats for questions and short relief periods.

In many previous speeches, Booker has been noted as an impassioned speaker, utilizing moral appeals, famous quotes, and heavy emotionality in his speeches. During speeches, he sounds much like a preacher, a rhetorical style that undoubtedly helped him expand and fill time while speaking, though he also found help in simply reading constituent letters, a large part of the 1,164 pages of preparatory material he had with him [1]. This commitment to discussing political issues throughout is impressive when compared to previous marathon speeches. For example, the previous record holder, Strom Thurmond, read from an encyclopaedia during his filibuster, and Ted Cruz notably read Green Eggs and Ham to fill time just a little over a decade ago.

The question remains as to the efficacy of this speech. On the one hand, it did not make any tangible changes. Given that the speech did not intend to target any specific legislation, no bills avoided a vote in the Republican-led chamber. However, the speech does come at an important time, where the Democrats are trying to find their footing. Being the minority in both chambers of Congress, as well as lacking power in the presidency and Supreme Court, they are scrambling to find how to form an effective resistance. A low approval rating and many divides within the party have hindered the necessity for Democrats to reinvent themselves. This speech is one act of deliberate, individual resistance, which, as intended, did truly disrupt the normal workings of the Senate for over a day. The vote scheduled for March 31^st on President Trump’s NATO Ambassador nomination was delayed [5], while anyone in the Senate had to listen to Senator Booker discuss his discontent with a wide range of policies.

Perhaps Senator Booker will serve as an example for Democratic congressmen, exemplifying a need for sacrifices in forming an effective resistance. Regardless, it is important to reflect on the fact that the speech overtook Strom Thurmond’s record for longest speech on the Senate floor. In 1957, Senator Thurmond, a long-time congressman from North Carolina, filibustered the Civil Rights Act unsuccessfully, speaking for 24 hours and 18 minutes [4]. His desire to block one of the most prominent rights-affirming acts of the 20^th century has now been usurped by a Black senator. Given that the previous record stood for almost 70 years, it is likely that Senator Booker will, for decades to come, be defined by this milestone speech.

References

[1] “Cory Booker’s Long Speech: By the Numbers”. Booker.senate.gov, 1 Apr 2025. https://booker.senate.gov/news/press/cory-bookers-long-speech-by-the-numbers

[2] “Cory Booker’s Marathon Floor Speech”. Senator Cory Booker (Youtube), 1 Apr 2025. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2utlMxAwtE

[3] Howard, J., “How Sen. Cory Booker prepared his body for record 25-hour-long speech”. CNN, 2 Apr 2025. https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/02/health/cory-booker-prepared-his-body-speech/index.html

[4] Abbas Ahmadi., A., “Cory Booker makes longest Senate speech in 25-hour stand against Trump”. BBC News, 2 Apr 2025. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyq24388ppo

[5] Ruhiyyih Ewing, G., “Former acting AG Whitaker confirmed as US envoy to NATO”. Politico, 1 Apr 2025. https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/01/former-acting-ag-whitaker-confirmed-as-us-envoy-to-nato-00006035