Cory Booker broke a record with his 25-hour Senate floor speech. How did he prepare to do it?
After creating history by smashing the record for the longest Senate speech in history, Sen. Cory Booker told reporters as he walked off the floor that he was achy and tired, but grateful for his time.
"I didn't know how long I could go. I'm so grateful I lasted for 25 hours," Booker said.
Without taking a seat for the entirety of his speech, dehydration, the New Jersey senator said, had its pros and cons.
Booker sidestepped a question of whether he had any sort of device or diaper on to help him with bathroom demands.
However, he did say he didn't need to use the restroom for the entirety of the 25 hours because of an incredibly rigorous fasting routine.
"My strategy was to stop eating. I think I stopped eating on Friday, and then to stop drinking the night before I started on Monday. And that had its benefits and it had its really downsides," he said.
"The biggest thing I was fighting was that different muscles were starting to really cramp up, and every once a while, spasm or something."
Booker's speech, which began Monday evening, continued for a total of 25 hours and 4 minutes, surpassing the previous record set by Sen. Strom Thurmond, who filibustered the Civil Rights Act of 1957 for 24 hours and 18 minutes.
Booker was "very aware" of Thurmond's record going into the speech.
"I was very aware of Strom Thurmond's record since I got to the Senate. I always felt that it was a strange shadow to hang over this institution," Booker told reporters.
"The mission was really to elevate voices of Americans to tell some of their really meaningful stories, very emotional stories, and to let go and let God do the rest."
To prepare, Booker said he tried to make himself as light as possible, and took everything out of his pockets except for a notecard with a handwritten Bible verse on it: Isaiah 40:31. "But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint," Booker read.
He relied on his faith, he said, at one point praying with Reverend Sen. Raphael Warnock ahead of the speech.
For the entirety of his marathon talk-a-thon, Booker occupied the small square of space surrounding his desk.
