Late Sen. Strom Thurmond was so racist that in 1957 he stood for 24 hours and 18 minutes to filibuster against civil rights.

On Tuesday, Sen. Cory Booker broke Thurmond’s record by holding the longest speech on the Senate floor to protest  President Donald Trump and his racist regime. 

Politico reports that the New Jersey Democrat took the floor around 6:59 p.m. Monday, noting that he was looking to cause some “good trouble” — a nod to civil rights activist John Lewis, who noted that we must “Get in good trouble, necessary trouble, and redeem the soul of America.”

For more than 25 hours, Booker took Trump and his brood of lawless banditos to task. At 7:18 p.m. Tuesday, Booker broke Thurmond’s record and at 8:05 p.m., with a shaky voice, Booker yielded the floor. 

“Maybe my ego got caught up that maybe, maybe, just maybe, I could break this record of the man who tried to stop the rights upon which I stand,” Booker said, Politico reports. “I’m not here, though, because of his speech, I’m here despite his speech.”

Booker did not set out to break the record, he merely noted that he wanted to go as long as he was physically able to. Politico noted that Booker wanted to last at least 15 hours, which was how long he and Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) lasted in 2016 when they held the floor over gun violence apathy. 

“We hope and believe he will break the record. He’s close to it now,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters Tuesday afternoon.

Americans aren’t a line item in a budget to cut. Your story matters, your voice matters, this fight matters. pic.twitter.com/cDpXIZMtRe

— Sen. Cory Booker (@SenBooker) April 1, 2025

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From Politico: 

Booker, who was sworn into the Senate in 2013, was joined on the floor at various points during his speech by dozens of his Democratic colleagues, who engaged in extended colloquies with Booker — a tactic that allowed Booker to rest his voice while still maintaining control of the floor. He did not leave the Senate chamber.

Murphy joined Booker on the floor as he closed in on Thurmond’s record Tuesday evening and highlighted the contrast in the circumstances between Booker’s speech and the South Carolina segregationist’s.

“What you have done here today, Senator Booker, couldn’t be more different than what occurred on this floor in 1957,” Murphy said, referring to Thurmond’s unsuccessful attempt to block an early piece of U.S. civil rights law. Booker is one of five Black senators currently in office.

Schumer also praised Booker when he briefly joined him on the Senate floor Tuesday: “Your strength, your fortitude, your clarity has been nothing short of amazing.”

The Hill notes that some 350 million people liked Booker’s speech on TikTok live, just one of the many social media sites that broadcast the entire protest.  

“All of America is paying attention to what you’re saying,” Schumer, who has some babies to kiss after he sold out the cause to support the GOP funding bill last month, said. “The disastrous actions of this administration — in terms of how they’re helping only the billionaires and hurting average families — you have brought that forth with such clarity.”

Politico added that Booker wasn’t alone during his record-breaking moment. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and members of the Congressional Black Caucus took to the Senate floor to hear parts of his historic speech.

Booker’s speech touched on President Trump’s massive amount of executive orders, the attempts by the Trump administration to circumvent the law, Trump’s haphazard attempts at tariffs, and Elon Musk running roughshod over the federal government and possible cuts to Medicare.  

“The vote to pass this dangerous blueprint did not come easily and we will make sure that lawmakers know that enacting these cuts would be to abandon older Americans,” he said.

As Booker began winding down his historic speech, he took a moment to soak it all in and then noted that he needed to stop talking and “go deal with some of the biological urgencies I’m feeling.”

SEE ALSO:

Cory Booker Makes Good Trouble On Senate Floor With Marathon Speech

Trump’s Administration Is Really Good At This One Thing

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