Sen. Cory Booker’s (D-N.J.) record-breaking Senate speech this week is putting him squarely in the political spotlight as Democrats wonder whether he could be a presidential contender in 2028.

Booker’s 25-hour speech aimed at combating President Trump’s moves in the White House gave Democrats a boost, especially as the party did better than expected in two Florida House races and saw a liberal candidate easily win a Wisconsin Supreme Court contest.

At a time when Democrats have been down in the dumps after losing the White House and Senate majority to Republicans — and as the party has been divided over how best to battle Trump — Booker’s speech provided a spark of enthusiasm for rank-and-file party members and his own colleagues.

“He’s a leader. He knows he’s a leader. What he did … puts him in a position to be an even more impactful voice, and that is really, really good for our party,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), who stayed up with Booker during the overnight portion of his address.

Booker already ran for president in 2020 and is widely seen as having ambitions for higher office. He joined the Democratic leadership team late last year. 

Murphy, who is seen as a prospective Democratic candidate for the White House himself, said Booker has a unique ability to make Democrats see hope, even as the New Jersey senator highlights the risks, as he sees it, of the Trump administration.

“Cory’s voice is inherently a positive voice, and you have to find a way at this moment to both convey the seriousness of what Trump is doing, which involves feeding anxieties in the public, while also giving them a positive vision,” Murphy said.

“At a moment like this, we need people like Cory to be at the top of their game because we need to both convey the threat to people, but we also need to give them hope.”

Booker, now the No. 4 member of Senate Democratic leadership, has seen his stock grow, particularly within the Senate Democratic caucus as he has taken a more hands-on role with messaging.

His marathon speech came at a critical time, just weeks after many Democrats were outraged that their top Senate leader, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), voted to advance a GOP funding bill to prevent a shutdown.

Schumer has defended the decision, arguing a worse situation would have been created with a shutdown. But he’s faced stark criticism from liberals in his party, and the decision contributed to a sense that Democratic leaders are not in touch with the demands of their base voters.

To many Democrats, Booker’s speech was aimed at the party’s voting base with a simple message: We’re listening. 

“We’ve all been hearing the same drumbeat: Do something,” Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) said. “He did something for all of us.”

The big question for Booker is whether he can use the attention he won this week to launch himself forward.

When he ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020, his candidacy did not even make it to the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses. 

His standing isn’t much different now. According to a Morning Consult poll taken in mid-March, Booker pulled 3 percent in a hypothetical 2028 Democratic primary survey.

Booker maintained following his speech that his primary focus on the electoral side, for now, is winning a third term next year. 

Multiple Democratic senators indicated to The Hill that they don’t believe Booker’s speech was motivated by a desire to run for president. The speech broke the record that had been held by Sen. Strom Thurmond (S.C.), a segregationist who was filibustering against civil rights legislation when he held the floor nearly 70 years ago. 

“My experience with Cory Booker is he does all kinds of things that clearly don’t help presidential ambitions, and in many ways, would diminish them. I don’t think he makes his decisions that way,” said Hickenlooper, who also ran for the 2020 Democratic nod. “He wants to go around and be a raging vegan. … That’s not typically part of the assortment of values that a presidential ambition takes you in that direction.” 

“He hasn’t cleaned himself up [or] tried to manicure his qualities or his personality to something that’s going to be more accessible to the people in the middle of the country. He hasn’t done that,” he continued. “It suggests to me that he did this because he believed in it — which is the right reason.”

Whether the moment is just a moment or something people look back on during a Booker White House will depend on the next several years.

“The question is whether the moment becomes momentum,” one Democratic senator said. “It’s too early to know if there’s long-term momentum here, but clearly it was a good moment. It was a good moment for the caucus at a time when people have been clamoring for action.”

One thing is clear.

The fight to be the Democratic nominee in 2028 is wide open.

“There’s not really a cap on anybody’s voice or profile right now inside the party,” Murphy said before turning back to Booker. “People love him. He’s got special individual relationships with everybody in the caucus.” 

Yet in a body where many people think they could be the next president, Murphy argued few will by cynical when it comes to Booker.

“I’m not going to lie, there can be resentments when … a moment like that happens,” he added. “There’s zero resentments with Cory because people know that he’s sincere.”