Who is Cory Booker? The Democrat who broke record for longest Senate speech (and why it's not a filibuster)

A Democratic senator has delivered the longest ever speech in the US Senate in protest against Donald Trump.

Cory Booker, 55, took to the floor at 7pm local time on Monday - midnight in the UK - saying he would remain there as long as he was "physically able".

He finally concluded at 8.04pm local time (1.04am in the UK) the following day, clocking in with 25 hours and four minutes - surpassing the previous record of 24 hours and 18 minutes.

The senator for New Jersey said his goal was to "uplift the stories of Americans who are being harmed by the Trump administration's reckless actions, attempts to undermine our institutions, and disregard for the rule of law".

Trump latest: Follow live updates

During his speech, Mr Booker only took brief breaks from speaking, when he gave the floor instead to questions from his Democratic colleagues, according to Sky News' US partner network, NBC News.

The rules of the Senate dictate a speaker holds the floor as long as they stay at the podium - meaning he could not leave at any point, even to go to the toilet or to eat.

So who exactly is the Democratic senator, what was his multi-hour speech all about - and how did he do it?

Rising star of Democratic Party

Mr Booker was born in Washington DC and moved to northern New Jersey when he was a boy.

He is a graduate of Stanford University and Yale Law and started his career as a lawyer for charities.

Entering politics, he was considered a rising star in the Democratic Party. He was elected to serve on the city council of New Jersey's biggest state, Newark, and then as mayor, a position he held until 2013.

He was first elected to the US Senate in 2013 during a special election held after the death of politician and businessman Frank Lautenberg.

He went on to win his first full term in 2014 and was re-elected in 2020.

2020 presidential bid

In February 2019 Mr Booker launched his bid for the US presidency from the steps of his home in Newark.

At the time, he played on his personal ties to the "low-income, inner city community" and urged for the US to return to a "common sense of purpose".

He later dropped out of the race after struggling to raise the money required to make a bid for the White House.

Why did he speak in the Senate - and what did he say?

By holding the floor in the Senate, Mr Booker protested against the Trump administration.

Before he began, the senator said he had the intention of "getting in some good trouble", NBC News reported.

He started by saying he intended to disrupt "the normal business of the United States Senate for as long as I am physically able".

"I rise tonight because I believe sincerely that our country is in crisis," he said.

In the hours that followed, he gave a warning about the "grave and urgent" threat Americans faced from the Trump administration, arguing that "bedrock commitments" to the country "are being broken."

He read letters from constituents about how Mr Trump's cuts were already taking a toll on their lives.

The longest Senate speeches in history

As he reached 16 hours of speaking, Mr Booker already had the sixth-longest speech in Senate history.

However, he still has a while to go to beat the all-time record for the longest individual speech.

According to the Senate's website, this belongs to Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, who filibustered for 24 hours and 18 minutes against the Civil Rights Act of 1957.

Only one other sitting senator has spoken for longer than Mr Booker.

In 2013, Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas, held the floor for 21 hours and 19 minutes to contest Barack Obama's healthcare reform law.

As well as speaking about health law, Mr Cruz's speech made headlines as he read the entirety of the Dr Seuss book Green Eggs And Ham, which he said at the time was a bedtime story to his children.

He claimed the US was giving up being a global leader, citing Mr Trump's proposals to take over Greenland and Canada while feuding with longtime allies.

He also occasionally took aim at Elon Musk, the richest person in the world, who is advising Mr Trump and leading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

"In just 71 days, the president of the United States has inflicted so much harm on Americans' safety; financial stability; the core foundations of our democracy," Mr Booker said on the floor.

"These are not normal times in America. And they should not be treated as such in the United States Senate."

"Twelve hours now I'm standing, and I'm still going strong, because this president is wrong, and he's violating principles that we hold dear and principles in this document that are so clear and plain," Mr Booker said at around 7am on Tuesday, holding up a copy of the Constitution.

Appearing to waver slightly at times, Mr Booker was accompanied by Senator Chris Murphy. In 2016, Mr Booker joined the Connecticut Democrat when he held the floor for almost 15 hours to argue for gun control legislation.

22 hours in, Mr Booker acknowledged he was struggling.

"I don't have much gas left in the tank," he said at around 5pm, before continuing.

"More Americans need to stand up and say enough is enough," he said.

While the main motivation for the speech was to stand up to the Trump administration, Mr Booker later said he wanted to break the record previously set by Senator Strom Thurmond in 1957, who was protesting the Civil Rights Act.

During an MSNBC interview Tuesday night, Mr Booker said Mr Thurmond's record "always kind of just really irked me".

"The longest speech on our great Senate floor was someone who was trying to stop people like me from being in the Senate. So to surpass that was something I didn't know if we could do, but it was something that was really - once we got closer, became more and more important," he said.

A standing ovation and millions of TikTok likes

At 7.45pm, having already broken the record, Mr Booker said he would "stop soon".

Minutes after he broke the record, he said: "I want to go a little bit past this, and then I'm gonna, I'm gonna deal with some of the biological urgencies I'm feeling."

Then finally, at 8.04pm, he ended his speech to a standing ovation from Senate colleagues.

"This is a moral moment. It's not left or right; it's right or wrong. Let's get in good trouble. I yield the floor," Mr Booker concluded.

A live feed of the speech on the senator's TikTok account had more than 350 million likes, according to Mr Booker's office, which said that it had also received more than 28,000 voicemails of encouragement.

X This content is provided by X, which may be using cookies and other technologies. To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies. You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable X cookies or to allow those cookies just once. You can change your settings at any time via the Privacy Options. Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to X cookies. To view this content you can use the button below to allow X cookies for this session only.
Enable Cookies Allow Cookies Once

After the speech, he wrote on X: "I may be tired and a little hoarse, but as I said again and again on the Senate floor, this is a moment where we cannot afford to be silent, when we must speak up.

"I believe that history will show we rose to meet this moment.

"It will show we did not let the chaos and division go unanswered. It will show that when our president chose to spread lies and sow fear, we chose to come together, to work together, and to rise together."

How did he prepare for it?

Mr Booker's speech wasn't an impromptu one; his office said it stemmed from 1,164 pages of prepared material.

But it wasn't just the speech itself that the senator had to prepare for - it was the physical demands of the display.

Mr Booker later told reporters that in preparation for the speech, he had stopped eating days in advance.

"My strategy was to stop eating - I think I stopped eating on Friday - and then to stop drinking the night before I started," he said, adding that those decisions had left him dehydrated and with cramped muscles.

Senator Chris Murphy, who was with Mr Booker overnight during his speech, spoke admiringly of his performance - and endurance - as it headed into hour 23.

"It's really hard to get your body past hour 22 and 23," Mr Murphy said, "I just don't think he's going to stop until he has to stop."

Asked whether Mr Booker wore a nappy or a catheter, Mr Murphy laughed and said he wasn't the person to ask. A spokesperson for Mr Booker said he hadn't worn either.

He noted that Mr Booker had pain medicine in his desk drawer in case he needed it.

Read more:
Could Donald Trump run for a third term?
'Liberation day is here': But what will it mean for global trade?

Get Sky News on WhatsApp

Follow our channel and never miss an update

Tap here to follow

Why it was not a filibuster

Some reports have referred to Mr Booker's speech as a filibuster, but technically it was not.

A filibuster is a speech meant to halt the advance of a specific piece of legislation.

Mr Booker's performance was instead a broader critique of Mr Trump's agenda, meant to hold up any business scheduled to take place in the Senate and draw attention to what Democrats are doing to contest the president.

Democrats have been forced to use these types of opposition methods as they do not hold a majority in either congressional chamber.

Mr Booker has been involved in a filibuster, joining fellow senator Chris Murphy for his nearly 15-hour speech to advocate for gun control in 2016.