Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) made history Tuesday with a 25-hour, 5-minute filibuster, surpassing the previous record set in 1957 by segregationist Sen. Strom Thurmond.
While Thurmond took the floor for 24 hours and 18 minutes to block the Civil Rights Act, Booker used his time to stand against what he called a dangerous dismantling of government by Donald Trump, Elon Musk and congressional Republicans.
“It always seemed wrong,” Booker said of the room near the Senate chamber still named for Thurmond. “It seemed wrong to me when I got here in 2013. It still seems wrong today.”
Booker, a descendant of slaves and slave owners, tied the fight for civil rights to the current political moment.
He warned that the nation faces a “looming constitutional crisis,” reading letters from Americans affected by policies targeting Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and SNAP.
“This is a moral moment,” Booker said. “It’s not left or right; it’s right or wrong.”
Booker was backed in person by members of the Congressional Black Caucus. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), and Sens. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) and Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.) showed support in and around the Senate chamber.
Jeffries called Booker’s action “an incredibly powerful moment,” adding, “He is fighting to preserve the American way of life and our democracy. And the record was held by Strom Thurmond, who was defending Jim Crow segregation.”
Rep. Hank Johnson of Georgia (D), a close friend of the late Georgia Democratic Rep. John Lewis, described Booker’s speech as “an act of resistance.”
“The American people want to see us as their representatives do everything we can to resist the encroachment on our liberties and the taking away of benefits,” Johnson said.
Democrats have grown increasingly frustrated by their limited ability to stop Trump’s agenda, which is happening with support from Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. With no control over the White House or Congress, Booker’s speech served as a forceful stand.
He invoked the late John Lewis, recalling conversations with his mentor and his message to “get in good trouble, necessary trouble, to redeem the soul of our nation.”
“John Lewis would say, do something,” Booker said. “He wouldn’t treat this moral moment like it was normal.”
Booker said he hoped his actions lived up to a promise he once made to Lewis: “We’ll do everything possible to make you proud.”
The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) stated full support of Booker’s effort.
“Today, the CBC is proud of the profound fortitude of our friend and colleague, Senator Cory Booker, who, in the spirit of ‘good trouble,’ has now held the longest speaking filibuster in history by a lone Senator to disrupt Republicans’ agenda and defend our communities from the corruption and abuse of the Trump Administration and Congressional Republicans,” the statement said.
“It is a sobering contrast that this previous record was held by Senator James Strom Thurmond Sr., a staunch supporter of racial segregation, who took to the Senate Floor for 24 hours and 18 minutes in protest of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1957.”
The CBC emphasized the importance of Booker’s actions in this modern civil rights and equity fight.
“Senator Booker understands that during a time when President Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and Congressional Republicans have made it their mission to dismantle the federal government and cut programs that are the difference of life and death for millions of Americans… we must challenge extremism with unconventional measures.”
“The CBC will continue fighting every day to keep our communities safe from MAGA extremists who are hellbent on inflicting harm to our communities.”