In remarks to reporters, Democratic New Jersey Senator Cory Booker shared how he managed not to have to use the bathroom during his record-breaking 25-hour speech on the Senate floor—and it's pretty extreme.
Booker made history Tuesday, delivering the longest speech ever recorded in the Senate, breaking the late Senator Strom Thurmond’s 1957 filibuster against civil rights.
Booker began his speech at 6:59 p.m. on Monday, declaring his intent to “disrupt the normal business of the United States Senate for as long as I am physically able” as a protest against President Donald Trump and his administration. By 7:18 p.m. Tuesday, he had surpassed Thurmond’s 24-hour, 18-minute mark, He finally yielded the floor at 8:05 p.m., extending the new record by an additional 48 minutes.
So how did he do it? Simple—by not taking bathroom breaks.
Booker’s record-breaking speech was both a physical and mental test of endurance. Throughout the marathon session, he refrained from eating or drinking to avoid needing a restroom break. At nearly 56 years old—an age when many men struggle to make it through an eight-hour sleep without interruption—his ability to sustain the effort was remarkable.
Though proud of his accomplishment, Booker acknowledged that his doctor might not be too pleased with his methods:
"Again, I don’t want my doctor to be mad at me, but I really spent time dehydrating myself beforehand, so I did not have to go to the bathroom."
"My challenge was, was that 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.”
"And so instead of fighting or figuring out how to go the bathroom, I ended up, I think really, unfortunately, dehydrating myself."
You can hear par of what he said in the video below.
Medically sound or not, many applauded his move.
Booker was joined throughout his speech by dozens of Democratic colleagues. They engaged in extended colloquies—a strategy that gave Booker brief moments to rest his voice while keeping control of the floor. He remained in the chamber for the entire duration.
Starting with two glasses of water and a thick binder of notes, Booker occasionally took sips and referenced his materials. After surpassing the record, he quipped that it was time to wrap up and “go deal with some of the biological urgencies I’m feeling.”
Bravo, Senator. You certainly earned it.
