How Cory Booker Broke the Senate Filibuster Record

The arduous 25 hour, 5 minute speech required days of physical preparation for the 55-year-old senator.

U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) speaks to reporters as he leaves the Senate Chamber after delivering a record-setting floor speech at the Capitol in Washington on April 1, 2025. Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

Late in the evening on April 1, Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) yielded the Senate floor after a marathon speaking session that had begun more than 24 hours earlier, his speech shattering the record previously held by Sen. Strom Thurmond since 1957.

Rising at around 7 p.m. ET on March 31, Booker spoke through the night and into the next day, yielding the floor at 8:05 p.m., with his time on the floor clocking in at a total of 25 hours and 5 minutes. By that point, Booker, eyes wide and bloodshot, was visibly rocking back and forth on his tennis shoes, occasionally pacing around his desk.