As Sen. Cory Booker’s (D-N.J.) filibuster-style speech on the Senate floor nears 20 hours, liberals online are cheering for him to break the Senate speaking record currently held by notorious segregationist Strom Thurmond.
Booker began his speech at 7pm ET on Monday, saying he would speak “for as long as I am physically able” in protest of the Trump administration.
As of Tuesday afternoon, he was still on the floor, discussing Republican policies he opposes and continuing what is already one of the longest speeches in Senate history.
Thurmond, who served 47 years as a senator from South Carolina, set the speaking record with a 24-hour, 18-minute filibuster to delay the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1957, which aimed to curb restrictions on Black Americans’ voting rights.
The symbolism of a Black senator chasing a record held by a segregationist, at a time when many Democrats believe immigrant and LGBTQ rights are under attack, was not lost on liberal commentators.
“Strom Thurmond filibustered the Civil Rights Act of 1957. He failed, it passed,” wrote one Bluesky user. “Today Booker stands on the right side of history.”
“The record is apparently 24 hours from Strom Thurmond when he was filibustering for segregation,” another Bluesky user remarked. “It would be nice to erase that record.”
Booker’s speech is not technically a filibuster, since he is not delaying specific legislation, but the spirit of his effort—including the physical challenges of standing on the floor for over a dozen hours—is similar, some users remarked.
“Say what you want about Cory Booker,” a Bluesky user said. “But him standing up all night, going hour by hour addressing each issue where people are negatively impacted by this administration, especially for folks whose own representatives abandoned them, says a lot.”
“I am curious how Cory Booker is handling his bladder. Has he peed during this filibuster? Any folks at the Capitol want to chime in on this?” joked one X commentator, racking up nearly 50,000 views. “Strom Thurmond peed in a bucket with one foot on the Senate floor so…”
Booker shows no signs of slowing down, though he is quickly running out of Democrats to ask him questions as he continues his floor speech.
To pass Thurmond—who once boasted that even the U.S. military couldn’t force the South to desegregate its schools and public spaces—Booker will have to make it to 7:19pm.
“Cory Booker is also 55, but doesn’t eat meat, has done a 10 day hunger strike, etc,” wrote one commentator on X, who noted Thurmond was 55 years old at the time of his filibuster. “Even odds he breaks the record.”
For his part, President Donald Trump has yet to comment on Booker’s speech.
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