The 31st of March is many things: the end of the first quarter of the year, the anniversary of Matrix, a day to show up to your Monday classes. This year, it was also the date United States Senator Cory Booker chose to deliver a record breaking marathon speech in protest against the current American administration, standing up for 25 hours and 6 minutes and voicing both his concerns and the ones of many constituents.
It is important to remember that this speech is not a filibuster, as many people have claimed: this term, deeply ingrained in American Senate workings, specifically refers to the halting of a Senate session to specifically block the voting of a new law, by taking the floor and talking about any subject for as long as one wishes, as specifically permitted by Senate rules. This practice, famous (and controversial) as it may be, is not what happened between the 31st of March and the 1st of April: Senator Booker had no law to hold up, though one must note that the Senate had much to deliberate upon in the current political landscape, and Booker’s speech set the timeline back by a day and a bit on several projects (one example notable to our international readers is the confirmation of Matt Whitaker as ambassador to NATO, a procedure delayed until April 2nd).
Booker’s marathon speech, however, is nevertheless noteworthy within the context of the U.S. Senate History, in that it dethroned the previous record holder for longest speech delivered: Strom Thurmond. This Senator from Southern Carolina had previously held the record ever since his 24 hour and 18 minute filibuster of the Civil Rights Act of 1957. Shortly after breaking the record, Cory Booker himself commented on the previous holder while being interviewed by the Rachel Meadows show, noting that “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” and that “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 to me”.
The context of Booker’s political career is also noteworthy: having done his Bachelor’s and Master’s degree at Stanford, and subsequently having studied at Queen’s College, Oxford, and attended Yale Law School, he entered politics by running for the Municipal Council in Newark, New Jersey, quickly becoming Mayor and climbing the ranks of the Democratic Party to his Senate seat, which he has held since 2013. His career has seen him strongly support laws on topics of social and economic justice, with additional measures taken to push for progress in the criminal justice system, in fighting climate change, and on the immigration front. Notable within the context of his recent achievement is his involvement in Senator Chris Murphy’s 15-hour gun control filibuster (Murphy was subsequently among the democrats who aided Booker in this week’s speech). In 2019, Booker ran for the Democratic Presidential nomination, with a platform tied to his inner-city low-income roots, and aimed at uniting the American electorate in common sense and purpose. He qualified for the first five debates but fell behind in polls and suspended his campaign in early January, endorsing Biden.
This is the man that on Monday March 31st, at 7 p.m. EDT, took the Senate floor. In the following 25 hours, Booker attempted to “get in some good trouble” by strongly protesting and condemning President Trump both on the grounds of personal actions and on failures of policy. His preparation included both material research (1164 pages of prepared material) and physical training, including fasting from the evening of march 28th in preparation. With the stated goal to disrupt the normal business of the United States Senate for as long as he was physically capable to, and with more than 300 thousand people watching the live streams from home, Booker proceeded to declare that his beloved nation is in a state of crisis caused by the failures of the past 71 days of politics, painting the picture of a country plagued by incompetent demagogues and excessive budget cuts, which are inflicting “so much harm on Americans' safety, financial stability, the core foundations of our democracy and even our aspirations as a people”.
While historically Senate marathon speeches have included topics ranging anywhere from enounciating passages from an Encyclopedia (Thurmond) to reading Doctor Seuss books (Cruz), Senator Booker managed to never sway from topic during his day of speaking. He aired both his own complaints and those of more than 200 concerned citizens, sent to him via letter. In these times, which “are not normal times”, Booker made himself an advocate for those impacted by DOGE’s severe downsizing of public agencies, and President Trump’s aggressive economic and immigration policies. One particularly touching moment came when Booker read a letter from a voter who had recently been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Holding back tears, Booker noted how closely this related to his own family life, as his father had passed away after a long fight against the disease.
While focusing on attacking the nation as a proxy of its current leaders may have been a more alluring and expected approach, Booker’s speech also extends a hand across the aisle, confirming the Senator’s approach of trying to unite the States: in addition to the strongly progressive and anti-establishment values brandished, Booker displayed a great patriotism, speaking of his nation as a beautiful ideal all politicians should be in love and awe of: “Look, I have this firm belief that if America hasn’t broken your heart, you don’t love her enough”, and adding that “I’ve been broken, shattered, have moments where I wanted to give up”. In addition, Booker’s stance was intensely in favour of the United States Constitution, claiming it had saved his life, and encouraging citizens to believe in this document so strongly and love America so passionately that they would make it real for all Americans, pointing at Langston Hughes’ quote that “America never was America to me, but I swear this oath America will be”. In doing so, Booker once again proved his dedication to a nation currently divided, and his attempt to breach a gap between two values (progressivism and patriotism) that have long seemed divided.
After more than a day of relentless enduring, Booker concluded his speech at 8.06 p.m of April 1st, claiming he had biological needs to attend to after such a gruesome task, and leaving the audience on a strong call to action to make his beloved country a better place, no matter how arduous the challenge may seem. After a standing ovation, Booker went on to be interviewed by many news outlets, and, at last, resumed eating again with a simple banana.
Booker’s speech went on to be the focus of news and public interest during its entire run, both through the Senator’s official channels (accumulating more than 350 million likes on tiktok where it was being live streamed), even sparking memes all across social media. In doing so, Booker has taken what may be the first steps in winning back widespread support for the Democratic party, which has infamously been criticized and scrutinized by its base in recent history. The Senator himself admitted to an interviewer that “I do really credit constituents [...] taking that anger out on Democrats, who have to take some responsibility for being where we are in American history right now”. He claimed that, in spite of recent efforts of mainstream Democrats to put themselves more out there and gain more outreach on the internet and amongst an ever-younger voter base, “I suddenly realized that I have just got to do something myself. I have got to try to prove worthy for my constituents that I’m willing to step out and step up in some way and hopefully be able to share their stories that were so hurtful”. Senator Booker’s speech is therefore not only an historical achievement, but is also intended to be a trend-setter for the future behaviours of his party in regards to opposing the current administration, pushing colleagues to put themselves out there and “get into some good trouble”, to quote Booker’s beloved John Lewis. And within this future for the Democrats we may quite possibly expect a second presidential campaign for the Senator himself, who might have gained enough public renown to put up a proper fight both in the primaries and, perhaps, in the 2028 Presidential Election. After all, the call to “Redeem the Dream” does roll off the tongue easily enough to be a campaign slogan.
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