Cory Booker Sets Record with Marathon Senate Speech to Blast Trump

In a feat of determination, New Jersey Democratic Sen. Cory Booker held the Senate floor with a marathon speech lasting all night of Monday and into Tuesday night, setting a historic record to demonstrate Democrats’ resistance to President Donald Trump’s sweeping actions, Mike Catalini, Stephen Groves, and Matt Brown reported for the Associated Press (AP).

By standing on the Senate floor for more than a day and a night, he broke a 68-year-old record set by then-Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina. I Photo: Cory Booker Facebook

Booker took to the Senate floor on Monday evening, vowing to remain there as long as he was “physically able.” It wasn’t until 25 hours and 5 minutes later that the 55-year-old senator, a former football tight end, finished speaking and limped off the floor.

His speech set the record for the longest continuous Senate floor speech in the chamber’s history.

Booker was assisted by fellow Democrats, who gave him brief breaks by asking questions on the Senate floor. It was a remarkable show of stamina as Democrats sought to assure their frustrated supporters that they are doing everything possible to contest Trump’s agenda.

Beyond his immediate political goals, Booker also provided a historic moment for a party searching for direction.

By standing on the Senate floor for more than a day and a night, he broke a 68-year-old record set by then-Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, a segregationist and Southern Democrat, who filibustered the Civil Rights Act in 1957.

Shifting his feet and leaning on his podium, Booker railed for hours against cuts to Social Security offices under the oversight of Trump adviser Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.

He outlined the impacts of Trump’s early executive orders and raised concerns that broader cuts to the social safety net could follow—though Republican lawmakers maintain that the program will remain untouched.