Sen. Cory Booker is delivering a marathon speech critical of President Donald Trump, holding the Senate floor overnight as he and other Democrats seek to address the clamor among party loyalists to fight harder and more visibly against administration policies.
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Published Apr 01, 2025 • 2 minute read
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(Bloomberg) — Sen. Cory Booker is delivering a marathon speech critical of President Donald Trump, holding the Senate floor overnight as he and other Democrats seek to address the clamor among party loyalists to fight harder and more visibly against administration policies.
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Beginning his speech around 7 p.m. on Monday, Booker (D-N.J.) slammed Trump’s policies on health care, immigration, national security and many other topics. He sought to cast the president as a detriment to the American public. Democrats were still holding the floor late this morning with no plan to relent.
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“I rise with the intention of disrupting the normal business of the United States Senate for as long as I am physically able,” Booker said as he started his speech. In the middle of the night, reading off a list of topics he planned to address, Booker said “this would be enough to make it till tomorrow evening if I can stand that long.”
Booker’s move comes amid backlash against Senate Democrats, including Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), for helping Republicans advance a GOP spending bill last month that averted a government shutdown. The vote angered liberals who have wanted to see more fight from Democrats, and has led to new strategies from senators looking to build momentum, including hosting rallies across the country.
With his sonorous voice and imposing stature, Booker, who ran for president in 2020, is using the hours-long speech as a way to break through Trump’s domination of the news cycle and appeal to the party’s activists.
Booker — who kept his energy and voice up through the night and morning — paused throughout to yield for questions from his Democratic colleagues, including Schumer. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), seen as another rising star in the party, joined Booker on the floor throughout the night.
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“What Donald Trump is doing is not normal and so we can’t normalize it,” said Murphy, who just did a town hall in a GOP district in Michigan with Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.). “This all-night filibuster by Senator Booker that I’m helping with hopefully arouses the consciousnesses of our colleagues.”
Some Democratic activists lauded Booker as he spoke, with some offering support for Booker to be next to lead the caucus and others saying that this is what is needed to fight back. Schumer has said he won’t resign his leadership post. Some House Democrats, such as Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.). called on their senators to emulate Booker.
The Senate has witnessed various marathon speeches in recent years, including Murphy on gun control in 2016, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) against then Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch in 2017, and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) against the Affordable Care Act in 2013. But Booker has a ways to go to make history. Former Sen. Strom Thurmond holds the record for longest speech, which lasted 24 hours and 18 minutes in protest of the Civil Rights Act of 1957.
“Thank you for this work,” Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) said on the floor to Booker on Tuesday morning as he briefly relieved him with a question. “This is not the end, but the beginning.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Lillianna Byington in Washington at lbyington@bloombergindustry.com
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Bennett Roth at broth@bgov.com; George Cahlink at gcahlink@bloombergindustry.com
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