Senator Cory Booker Breaks Record for Longest Senate Speech

By Amelie Geoffroy 

March 31, 2025, New Jersey Senator Cory Booker began delivering a record-breaking speech in the U.S. Capitol protesting Donald Trump’s presidential administration which wouldn’t end until the next day, April 1. The speech ended with Booker acknowledging and thanking John Lewis, who Booker “began this whole thing with.” In his closing remarks, only moments before yielding his 25 hour and five minutes long speech, Booker said, “He [John Lewis] said for us to go out and cause some good trouble. Necessary trouble. To redeem the soul of our nation.” This is what Booker said he believed he had done at least a little bit of in the past day, and what he hoped his audience will take part in. 

While speaking coherently for over 25 hours is memorable enough, there is another component of Booker’s speech that’s maybe just as noteworthy. As senator Booker surpassed the 24 hour, 18 minute mark of his speech, he beat the record previously held by former Senator Strom Thurmond. The North Carolina “segregationist,” as Booker called him, delivered his own filibuster protesting the institution of the Civil Rights Act in 1957. As Booker told MSNBC, “To be candid, Strom Thurmond’s record always kind of, just, just really irked me, that he would be the longest speech — that the longest speech, on our great Senate floor, was someone who was trying to stop people like me from being in the Senate.” The fact that Booker beat the record of someone with such contrasting views is just one more part of his presentation that will most likely make huge changes in the opinions and actions of his audience members. 

Standing and continuously speaking without breaks causes one problem that many viewers were curious about: the physical obstacles. As the 55-year-old Senator said to CNN, “I think that had good and bad benefits. I definitely started cramping up from lack of water.” Booker said that he began fasting and slowing/stopping his water intake several days before his presentation so that he would be able to continuously speak without needing bathroom breaks. 

Between the determination he showed in preparation for the speech, and the awareness he brought to what he believes to be important points, Cory Booker undoubtedly made an impact on every one of his audience members.