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    The Longest Filibusters in US Senate History [OC]
    Data

    The Longest Filibusters in US Senate History [OC]


    While Corey Booker was filibustering last year, I built an interactive site to the longest US Senate filibusters, focusing on the physical endurance required to 'hold the floor' for extended periods.

    Booker holds the current record at 25 hours and 5 minutes (2025), protesting Trump administration and DOGE operations. The top 5 longest filibusters span from 1957 to 2025, running from 21-25 hours.

    Data introspection:

    • Longest filibusters are bipartisan (Democrats, Republicans, and Independents represented)
    • All top filibusters exceeded 21 hours of continuous speaking
    • The physical demands are extreme – no bathroom breaks, limited food/water, must remain standing

    Data compiled from Senate records and Wikipedia. The visualization shows 15 of the longest filibusters on record, color-coded by party affiliation.

    Full interactive site with details on each filibuster: https://filibusters.org/

    Data Source(s):
    – Senate Historical Office
    – Congressional Record
    – C-SPAN Archives
    – Wikipedia
    – Contemporary news articles and historical accounts

    Tool(s) Used:
    – Data Visualization: Recharts 2.15.0
    – Framework: React 18.3.1 + TypeScript 5.6.2
    – Styling: Tailwind CSS 3.4.17
    – Build Tool: Vite 6.0.3

    Posted by probably_platypus

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    26 Comments

    1. ErasedAstronaut on

      Nice viz. I found myself wanting to know the years of each filibuster, especially since the major parties had different ideologies half a century ago. For instance, the Democratic party Corey Booker represents is vastly different than the Democratic party Strom Thurmond represented.

      It would have been nice to see next to each person’s name (e.g., Corey Booker (2025))

      Edit: add clarification for my suggestion of adding years

    2. save_the_wee_turtles on

      Strom Thurmond was evil. His filibuster was in opposition of the civil rights act

    3. forenergypurposes on

      If I had to listen to Ted Cruz speak for over 21 hours I would’ve fucking killed myself.

    4. palidor42 on

      Just going to be the guy to point out that Cory Booker’s wasn’t technically a filibuster because he wasn’t trying to stop some specific legislation. He was just…speaking.

    5. CatholicGuy77 on

      Almost as impressive as Leslie Knope’s filibuster while wearing roller skates in Parks & Rec

    6. newaccount47 on

      This is some advanced yogi-level shit right here. Somewhere between that of an athlete and a religious zealot.

    8. chuckgnomington on

      I’m glad Cory Booker did that filibuster which I assume was to reforms ice by giving them a pizza day so they won’t be so grouchy

    10. Difficult-Cricket541 on

      modern filibusters are meaningless and dont stop anything. filibusters are just political stunts for attention anyway.

    11. Infernode5 on

      As a British person this is completely alien to me. Can’t the speaker just tell them to shut up and sit down?

    18. Helphaer on

      The filibuster does not require standing or talking anymore you can simply say “I’m filibustering” in an email which is a major issue of the changes to filibuster. So this data is probably not accurate for durations.

    19. Pinkfatrat on

      The fact that you can obstruct the American government by just talking says so much about whole government

    21. PaTeKor on

      If we’re counting non-obstructing speeches, we should also include Jeff Merkley’s ~22 hour speech in 2025. Rand Paul also held the floor for ~10.5 hours a couple years after his more famous 12 hour filibuster.

    22. _tr9800a_ on

      Proud to see three Oregonians on the list:

      – Wayne Morse, 22 hours 26 minutes (longest at the time) in 1954 against the Submerged Lands Act, which would allow states to control off-shore oil to their own benefit

      – Jeff Merkley, 15 hours 28 minutes in 2017 against the nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. Also, technically a floor speech, not a filibuster (much like Cory Booker’s).

      – Ron Wyden…okay, not really sure here. He’s participated in a bunch, notably Rand Paul’s filibuster of drone surveillance in 2013 and Chris Murphy’s filibuster regarding gun violence in 2016 (which Merkley also participated in), but I’m not sure what actual

      That said, Morse was a beast who also filibustered the Tidelands Oil dispute for nearly 12 hours in 1952, and labor law amendments for over eight hours in 1949.

    23. Poosley_ on

      That Cory Booker set a yapping record surprises no one. Ask a question about Gaza or the NY mayors face and watch him stfu for once

    25. probably_platypus on

      I hope u/CoryBooker knows how inspirational his effort was. Agree or disagree, it grabbed the nation.

    26. Meanteenbirder on

      Of the 15 listed, 7 are still in the senate (4D, 2R, 1I), including Booker who holds the record