Senator Cory Booker may have etched his name into the record books with the longest floor speech in Senate history — but it was former Senator Kyrsten Sinema who had the last laugh.
Sinema, who left the Democratic Party in 2022 while representing Arizona in the upper chamber, long disagreed with Democrats on the virtue of the filibuster. She argued that Democrats should not end the filibuster, because it would open the door for them to ram their agenda through, repeatedly pointing out to her colleagues that the time might come when they were not in power and needed it.
Meanwhile, Democrats — including Booker — insist that it was a “relic” of the Jim Crow era. In 2022, Booker said the filibuster “has been abused to stop reforms supported by the vast majority of Americans.”
But now, Booker and the Democrats are changing their tune, celebrating Booker for unseating the late segregationist Senator Strom Thurmond with the “LONGEST FILIBUSTER IN SENATE HISTORY!”
LONGEST FILIBUSTER IN U.S. SENATE HISTORY! 🔥 @CoryBooker pic.twitter.com/6HnUcdKhjc
— Democrats (@TheDemocrats) April 1, 2025
Technically, Booker didn’t actually filibuster. There was no legislation under consideration for him to oppose, so, he was just giving a floor speech — a record-breaking floor speech, sure, but not a filibuster. Still, that hasn’t stopped Democrats from celebrating Booker’s “filibuster,” a far cry from their condemnations of the tool.
Sinema jabbed at her former party, saying, “Maybe it isn’t an old Jim Crow relic, after all.”
Maybe it isn’t an old Jim Crow relic, after all. https://t.co/ZHsgRkMd9Q
— Kyrsten Sinema (@kyrstensinema) April 2, 2025
Steve Guest weighed in afterward, sharing a few of Booker’s previous comments regarding the filibuster.
Booker’s receipts: pic.twitter.com/ShQKamAFqo
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) April 2, 2025
“The filibuster has been abused to stop reforms supported by the vast majority of Americans — from background checks to protecting the right to vote,” Booker said in 2022. “We must stop this abuse of power.”
“We have changed the filibuster before. We must change it again to preserve the right to vote in America,” he said a week later.
Sinema had a field day weeks earlier as many in her party who had called for the filibuster to be abolished suddenly found it invaluable, now that they were the minority party.
“Just surprised to see support for the ‘Jim Crow filibuster’ here,” she said, mocking Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), who was among those who had previously called for the filibuster to be abolished.
Just surprised to see support for the “Jim Crow filibuster” here https://t.co/zohOh0E5st pic.twitter.com/AWQKGHN9CG
— Kyrsten Sinema (@kyrstensinema) March 15, 2025
