# 49) A Standing Ovation in the Senate When Booker finally surpassed Thurmond’s 68-year-old record, the Senate chamber exploded in applause. In a body known for decorum, this was highly unusual—spontaneous clapping on the Senate floor is virtually unheard of. 🧵

# 49) A Standing Ovation in the Senate When Booker finally surpassed Thurmond’s 68-year-old record, the Senate chamber exploded in applause. In a body known for decorum, this was highly unusual—spontaneous clapping on the Senate floor is virtually unheard of. 🧵

# 49) A Standing Ovation in the Senate When Booker finally surpassed Thurmond’s 68-year-old record, the Senate chamber exploded in applause. In a body known for decorum, this was highly unusual—spontaneous clapping on the Senate floor is virtually unheard of. 🧵

# 68) A New Legacy for the Longest Speech Booker’s achievement stands in stark contrast to the previous record-holder’s aim. Thurmond’s 1957 filibuster was a bid to deny Black Americans equal rights. 🧵

# 67) Not Technically a Filibuster Interestingly, Booker’s marathon speech was not, in the strict sense, a filibuster. *“Filibuster”* in Senate rules means attempting to delay a specific vote—but Booker wasn’t blocking any bill. 🧵

# 66) The Final Steps When it was finally over—when Booker uttered his last lines and voluntarily yielded the floor—he had trouble even moving. The 55-year-old former football player limped off on stiff legs, assisted by colleagues. 🧵

# 65) A Deliberate Pace Booker spoke in measured tones to conserve energy. At times, he slowed his cadence or read documents (like letters) to rest his voice. Still, the sheer amount of words was immense—transcripts ran over 100,000 words. 🧵

# 64) Never Sitting, Even During “Breaks” Importantly, even during those Q&A “breaks,” Booker had to remain standing. *“They usually cannot be forced to cede the floor… without their consent,”* the Senate rules say, *“but the speaking senator must remain standing.”* So Booker stood at 🧵

# 63) Tag-Teaming with Allies One clever way Booker endured was by occasionally yielding for questions from friendly senators. Under Senate rules, a speaker can pause if another senator asks a question—but Booker had to remain standing and could reclaim the floor after answering. 🧵

# 62) “Not Much Gas Left” By Tuesday afternoon (approaching 20 hours in), Booker did acknowledge, *“I don’t have that much gas in the tank.”* He said this in response to a colleague’s light-hearted query. Indeed, he looked weary. 🧵

# 61) Second Wind of Passion Strikingly, as fatigue set in, Booker’s voice grew stronger with emotion. By Tuesday evening—hour 24—viewers noted his voice was not weaker but more impassioned. He channeled the energy of the moment to drive him. 🧵

# 60) Staying on His Feet Observers saw Booker shifting from foot to foot and leaning on his podium at times to relieve the strain. He would stretch one leg, then the other, subtly, to keep blood flowing. He occasionally gripped the podium to steady himself. 🧵

# 59) Pain and Perseverance As the hours piled up, the toll on Booker’s body grew. He later admitted his muscles began cramping as Tuesday wore on. *“There’s just a lot of tactics I was using to make sure that I could stand for that long,”* he said, describing how he shifted posture. 🧵

# 58) Only Water Throughout the marathon, Booker allowed himself just a few sips of water. In total, he drank only a couple of glasses of water over 25+ hours. He eschewed any food or energy drinks. Capitol staff placed water and throat lozenges nearby, but he used them sparingly. 🧵

# 57) Physical Preparation Such an effort wasn’t improvised—Booker prepared his body for the ordeal. He revealed afterward that he had eaten nothing for several days prior to the speech. He essentially fasted to condition himself, knowing digestion could weaken him or force breaks. 🧵

# 56) No Breaks, No Rest Under Senate rules, a senator can speak as long as they remain standing and do not leave. Booker carefully abided by those rules—he never took a bathroom break, never sat down, not even once. 🧵

# 55) A 25-Hour Marathon Booker’s speech began at 7:00 p.m. Monday evening, and he did not yield the floor until 8:05 p.m. Tuesday. In total, he spoke for **25 hours and 5 minutes** straight—the longest continuous Senate speech by a lone senator in history. 🧵

# 54) Grassroots Cheers It wasn’t just officials—activists and citizens across the country were cheering Booker on. Civil rights activist Brittany Packnett Cunningham noted that Booker *“is reminding all of America and his own party … to stand up for what we believe in.”* She lauded his 🧵

# 53) “Sticking Up for Ordinary Americans” Senator Raphael Warnock (D-GA), who came to the floor to support Booker, told the press he was “very proud” of him. 🧵

# 52) “An Act of Resistance” Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA)—a close friend of the late John Lewis—said Booker’s speech was *“an act of resistance.”* *“The American people want to see us do everything we can to resist the encroachment on our liberties and the taking away of benefits,”* Johnson 🧵

# 51) “An Incredibly Powerful Moment” House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who had been watching from the back, called Booker’s stand *“an incredibly powerful moment.”* Booker was *“fighting to preserve the American way of life and our democracy,”* Jeffries said. 🧵

# 50) Tears & Tribute Not only were there cheers; there were tears. Senator Tina Smith (D-MN) was seen wiping away a tear during the standing ovation. The emotion of the moment moved even seasoned lawmakers to cry openly. Across the aisle, Sen. 🧵

# 49) A Standing Ovation in the Senate When Booker finally surpassed Thurmond’s 68-year-old record, the Senate chamber exploded in applause. In a body known for decorum, this was highly unusual—spontaneous clapping on the Senate floor is virtually unheard of. 🧵

# 48) “You Broke the Record!” As the clock passed the 24-hour, 18-minute mark, Schumer returned to ask, *“Do you know you have just broken the record? Do you know how proud this caucus is of you? 🧵

# 47) Bipartisan Praise from Schumer Even Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer took the floor—not to stop Booker, but to encourage him. Schumer used a procedural question to give Booker a short respite, but in so doing, he lavished praise: *“Your strength, your fortitude, your clarity 🧵

# 46) Congressional Black Caucus Support Dozens of members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) showed up in solidarity. Booker’s House colleagues—including CBC Chair Hakeem Jeffries and Rep. 🧵

# 45) “I’ve Got Your Back” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) literally stood by Booker’s side through the entire marathon speech. Murphy sat on the Senate floor with Booker throughout the night and day, providing moral support. 🧵

# 44) Prayer Before the Battle Before he began, Booker received encouragement in a uniquely personal way—a prayer with his colleague Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester. *“My sister came over and prayed with me that I could stand for a long time,”* Booker recalled. 🧵

# 43) “Hands Off Our Food” Booker also gave voice to those worried about basic nutrition. He read letters about Trump’s proposed cuts to SNAP—the food stamp program. Americans feared these cuts would mean parents unable to put meals on the table for their children. 🧵

# 42) Misplaced Priorities – Meme Coins and Musk Perhaps most emblematic of the administration’s skewed priorities were two almost absurd anecdotes Booker highlighted. 🧵

# 41) Betraying Veterans Booker expressed outrage that thousands of veterans who had risked their lives for this country were being fired from their government jobs. Under Trump, the federal workforce was being purged—and even veterans were not spared. 🧵

# 40) Cutting Cancer Research In one of the most shocking examples, Booker noted that Trump even slashed funding for pediatric cancer research. *Who cuts funding to fight children’s cancer?* That point hit hard. 🧵

# 39) Education on the Chopping Block He decried how Trump *“gutted public education.”* School funding was slashed and public schools undermined. Booker, the former mayor of Newark, took this personally. 🧵

# 38) Disabled & Despised Booker was outraged that Trump had even tried to take health care away from people with disabilities to fund his tax cuts. 🧵

# 37) Seniors Left Stranded To illustrate, Booker read a letter from a constituent describing how Social Security offices were shutting down. *“73 million American seniors”* rely on Social Security, he noted—and now *“from now on, there will be no one to answer when they call for 🧵

# 36) Hollowing Out Health Services He pointed out that the Trump team had begun firing 10,000 federal health workers across agencies. This mass purge at the Department of Health and Human Services raised alarms that vital services would collapse. 🧵

# 35) Gutter Politics – Profits Over People Booker enumerated how Trump was betraying social programs to benefit the rich. *“They are trying to gut Medicaid and Medicare—programs on which nearly a third of our country rely—all to pay for tax cuts to billionaires and corporations,”* he 🧵

# 34) Trade War Turmoil Yet, at that very moment of economic crisis, Trump chose to launch a trade war against America’s own allies. Booker highlighted the absurdity: instead of alleviating Americans’ pain, the President was picking tariff fights with our friends, driving up costs even 🧵

# 33) Americans Hurting He vividly described families crushed by economic pain. Grocery prices were skyrocketing, Booker noted, making it harder and harder for people to afford essentials. 🧵

# 32) Broken Promises Booker assailed the administration’s breach of trust with the American people. *“Bedrock commitments are being broken,”* he said, listing the fundamental social contracts under threat. 🧵

# 31) Alarming Autocratic Fantasies In one letter Booker read, a constituent voiced alarm at Trump’s authoritarian ambitions—noting that the President had mused about annexing Greenland and even Canada. 🧵

# 30) Pandemic Preparedness Undone He also reminded colleagues that dangerous infectious diseases were still a global threat. The world was just emerging from COVID-19, and new threats could emerge. 🧵

# 29) Climate Crisis Ignored Booker invoked the stark reality of the climate crisis. He listed how “floods, fires, hurricanes, and droughts are devastating communities across the country,” yet Trump chose that moment to withdraw from climate agreements and sabotage environmental 🧵

# 28) Abandoning Allies & Agreements He blasted Trump for abandoning U.S. allies and international commitments—even as global crises loomed. *“He abandoned our allies and our international commitments,”* Booker said, at a time when America’s leadership was needed most. 🧵

# 27) Pardoning Insurrectionists Booker was outraged that those who attacked our democracy on January 6, 2021, were not condemned by Trump but rewarded. 🧵

# 26) War on Truth and Dissent Booker described a creeping authoritarianism. The *“American press was being censored,”* he noted, alarmed that the White House was actively working to muzzle the free press. 🧵

# 25) A Looming Constitutional Crisis He explicitly cautioned that America faces a “looming constitutional crisis.” The rule of law itself was in peril. 🧵

# 24) Institutions Under Attack *“Our institutions are being recklessly and unconstitutionally attacked and even shattered,”* Booker warned. He described a systematic assault on the checks and balances that protect Americans’ freedoms. 🧵

# 23) “Our Nation Is in Crisis” Booker painted a stark picture of the threat to American democracy. In just 71 days of the new administration, *“the President has inflicted harm after harm on Americans’ safety, financial stability, the core foundations of our democracy, and even our… 🧵

# 22) Family in the Gallery Booker’s family was there to support him during his marathon. His brother and cousin watched from the Senate gallery as he spoke. Seeing his family present, Booker drew inspiration and strength. 🧵