More than 24 hours after he started speaking on the Senate floor—and more than 11 hours after he declared he had "more in the tank"—Sen. Cory Booker broke a record set by Sen. Strom Thurmond in 1957. Thurmond, a segregationist, spoke for 24 hours and 18 minutes to filibuster the Civil Rights Act. Booker, who passed Thurmond's record at 7:18pm Eastern, was protesting President Trump's policies instead of trying to delay any specific piece of legislation, CNN reports. "I rise with the intention of disrupting the normal business of the United States Senate for as long as I am physically able," the Democrat senator said as he began speaking Monday. "I rise tonight because I believe sincerely that our country is in crisis." He ended the longest speech in Senate history after 25 hours.
Booker invoked civil rights leader John Lewis multiple times during his marathon speech, the AP reports. "You think we got civil rights one day because Strom Thurmond—after filibustering for 24 hours—you think we got civil rights because he came to the floor one day and said, 'I've seen the light,'" Booker said. "No, we got civil rights because people marched for it, sweat for it and John Lewis bled for it." Booker didn't leave the Senate floor at any point, not even for bathroom breaks, though he was able to rest his voice when Democratic senators asked questions, the Washington Post reports.
There were cheers after Booker passed Thurmond's record, the New York Times reports. "To hate him is wrong, and maybe my ego got too caught up that if I stood here, maybe, maybe, just maybe, I could break this record of the man who tried to stop the rights upon which I stand," Booker said of Thurmond, who died in 2003. "I'm not here though because of his speech. I'm here despite his speech. I'm here because as powerful as he was, the people were more powerful." This story has been updated with new developments. (More Cory Booker stories.)
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