US Senator Cory Booker has broken the record for the longest speech ever delivered in the Senate.
The New Jersey Democrat’s marathon address, a symbolic protest against President Donald Trump, in which he warned of a “grave and urgent” moment in American history, ended after for 25 hours and four minutes.
Although it was not a filibuster – a speech designed to obstruct passage of a bill – it held up legislative business in the Republican-controlled Senate. The rules for such speeches require a speaker to remain standing and forgo bathroom breaks.
The previous record was held by Republican Senator Strom Thurmond who, when still a Democrat in 1957, spoke for 24 hours and 18 minutes against the Civil Rights Act.
Booker said he would speak for as long as he was physically able as he began his address at around 19:00 local time on Monday evening. He concluded at 20:06 on Tuesday.
The 55-year-old, who is the fourth-ranking Democrat in the chamber, filled some of the time reading letters from constituents, who said they had been harmed by President Trump’s policies.
The former presidential candidate also ran out the clock by discussing sports, reciting poetry and taking questions from colleagues.
Booker, who is African-American, spoke of his roots as the descendant of both slaves and slave-owners.
“I’m here because as powerful as he was, the people are more powerful,” he said, referring to segregationist Thurmond’s record-setting address 68 years ago.
As he reached the milestone, Booker said he was going to “deal with some of the biological urgencies I’m feeling”.
He was able to give his jaw much-needed respite during the speech by taking questions from colleagues, including Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer of New York, Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York.
The Democratic Party, currently out of power in the White House, Senate and House of Representatives, rallied behind Booker’s symbolic act of protest.
Booker’s speech is also the longest in the Senate since a 21-hour filibuster in 2013 by Texas Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican, against Obamacare.
Cruz told CBS, the BBC’s US partner, that a filibuster is a challenging physical feat.
For his own protest, he wore comfortable shoes and tried to drink as little water as possible – an approach he described as “nothing in, nothing out”.
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