25 hours of nonstop Trump-bashing (without sitting down or going to the bathroom): a Democratic senator's record

BarcelonaDemocratic Senator Cory Booker broke a curious record in the US on Tuesday: the longest speech in Senate history. The New Jersey legislator spent 25 hours speaking in the chamber without sitting down or going to the bathroom, which would have caused him to miss his speaking time. Booker's lengthy speech was not an exercise in parliamentary filibustering to delay the passage of a law, but rather an act of denouncing Donald Trump's policies. "The threats looming over the American people and democracy are serious and urgent, and we all must do more to combat them," he explained after completing his feat.

The 55-year-old senator took the floor at 7:00 p.m. on Monday with the promise that he would continue as long as "physically possible" and continued speaking until 8:05 p.m. on Tuesday. He thus surpassed the record held since 1957 by Republican Strom Thurmond, a segregationist legislator who spent 24 hours and 18 minutes speaking in an attempt to block the passage of the Civil Rights Act. In this case, the Democrat has attacked the public spending cuts promoted by the Department of Government Efficiency, headed by Elon Musk, criticized Trump's immigration policies, and read testimony from people harmed by the new US administration.

During the speech, Booker also took questions from some of his party colleagues, allowing him a brief break, and also spoke on lighthearted topics to let the clock tick down. When he was finally informed that he had broken the record, the senator, excited, continued speaking for a few more minutes. However, he acknowledged that he would be dealing with "some biological emergencies." His speech was applauded and praised by the Democratic Party, which is seeking to rebuild itself after its November defeat to Trump and the Republicans.

History of marathon speeches

Senate rules recognize the practice of filibustering to delay debates through lengthy speeches, but this was not the case with Booker, as no vote was scheduled. His action, as he himself has said, stems from the need to "elevate the stories of Americans harmed by the actions of the Trump administration," which has plunged the country into a "crisis."

In the Senate, other marathon speeches are remembered, such as that of Republican Ted Cruz in 2013, who spoke nonstop for over 21 hours in an attempt to stop the passage of then-President Barack Obama's (2009-2017) healthcare reform. Or a more recent one: that of Democrat Jeff Merkley, who appeared for 15 hours and 26 minutes in protest of Trump's nomination of Neil Gorsuch as a Supreme Court justice.

Booker has been a senator since 2013 and is part of the Democratic leadership in the upper chamber. In 2020, he ran in the party's primaries to seek the Democratic presidential nomination, which ultimately went to Joe Biden. He is one of 14 African-American senators elected in the history of the chamber and the first from New Jersey. He is known, among other things, for leading efforts to decriminalize marijuana at the federal level, with the goal of ending racial bias in drug testing.