Cory Booker Optimizes Coverage of Marathon Senate Speech To Ink Book Deal
‘Stand,’ which expands upon the themes mentioned in his April filibuster, will be released this November.

Never one to miss an opportunity to build on his political brand, Senator Booker of New Jersey has turned his recent filibuster from the chamber floor into a new book to hit shelves soon.
On Wednesday, publisher St. Martin’s Press announced that “Stand,” a new book in which Mr. Booker will expand upon the themes of his record-setting 25-hour speech in April, will be released this fall.
“This book is about the virtues vital to our success as a nation and lessons we can draw from generations of Americans who fought for them,” Mr. Booker said in a statement. “Now is not the time to surrender to cynicism or abandon our most noble ideals. Now is the time to defiantly declare like our ancestors before us: I, too, stand for America.”
This is not the first time that Mr. Booker has seized on a moment to further his political advances. He has a history of self-promotion ever since his days as the mayor of the Garden State’s largest city, Newark.
While at City Hall, Mr. Booker carefully cultivated his public image by personally patrolling the streets to prevent crime and shoveling snow for elderly residents. He even rescued a woman from a burning building in 2012.
Mr. Booker was returning home in the Upper Clinton Hill neighborhood from an interview with News 12 New Jersey when he saw the flames coming out of his neighbor’s home.
“I just grabbed her and whipped her out of the bed,” he said to the Star-Ledger at the time.
He used that Boy Scout persona to win a Senate seat during a 2013 special election in New Jersey.
In 2018, Mr. Booker attempted to use the Supreme Court nomination hearing of Justice Brett Kavanaugh to garner a moment for himself.
“This is the closest I’ll get to an ‘I am Spartacus’ moment,” he proclaimed during the committee hearing.
Mr. Booker was referencing the classic film “Spartacus,” in which Kirk Douglas portrayed the leader of a slave revolt in ancient Rome.
The senator had taken issue with nearly 150,000 documents related to Justice Kavanaugh being marked “Committee Confidential,” saying that he was willing to get expelled from the Senate by releasing them to the public.
Mr. Booker’s grandstanding had continued at the hearing until the Republican committee chairman at the time, Chuck Grassley, had heard enough.
“Can I ask you — can I ask you — can I ask you, how long you’re going to say the same thing three or four times?” Mr. Grassley said to Mr. Booker.