Brakkton Booker
Brakkton Booker is a National Desk reporter based in Washington, DC.
He covers a wide range of topics including issues related to federal social safety net programs and news around the mid-Atlantic region of the United States.
His reporting takes him across the country covering natural disasters, like hurricanes and flooding, as well as tracking trends in regional politics and in state governments, particularly on issues of race.
Following the 2018 mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, Booker's reporting broadened to include a focus on young activists pushing for changes to federal and state gun laws, including the March For Our Lives rally and national school walkouts.
Prior to joining NPR's national desk, Booker spent five years as a producer/reporter for NPR's political unit. He spent most to the 2016 presidential campaign cycle covering the contest for the GOP nomination and was the lead producer from the Trump campaign headquarters on election night. Booker served in a similar capacity from the Louisville campaign headquarters of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in 2014. During the 2012 presidential campaign, he produced pieces and filed dispatches from the Republican and Democratic National conventions, as well as from President Obama's reelection site in Chicago.
In the summer of 2014, Booker took a break from politics to report on the unrest in Ferguson, Missouri.
Booker started his career as a show producer working on nearly all of NPR's magazine programs, including Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and former news and talk show Tell Me More,where he produced the program's signature Barbershop segment.
He earned a bachelor's degree from Howard University and was a 2015 Kiplinger Fellow. When he's not on the road, Booker enjoys discovering new brands of whiskey and working on his golf game.
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"He, as much as anyone in our history, brought this country a little bit closer to our highest ideals," former President Barack Obama said of the longtime congressman and civil rights legend. -
George Floyd's death at the hands of police sparked protests around the world. His family's private service Tuesday follows public memorials that drew thousands of mourners. -
Picket lines began forming outside GM plants after the United Auto Workers voted Sunday to begin a strike at midnight. Nearly 50,000 workers are affected by the work stoppage. -
While much of the farm bill draft mirrors current law, there is a major change coming for farmers: Industrial hemp will be legalized. Forestry and food stamps became sticking points. -
The president is marking the first anniversary of his inauguration with a government shutdown. Lawmakers are back at the Capitol trying to break the impasse — and playing the political blame game. -
Nearly two-thirds of teens say social media makes them feel more connected to what's happening in their significant other's life, according to a new study by the Pew Research Center.
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Neurosurgeon Ben Carson is a darling of conservatives. It started when he criticized President Obama's health care law and other policies at a Prayer Breakfast with the president just a few feet away.
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Golf is a sport that's been enjoyed by both Democrats and Republicans through the decades, but bipartisan golf outings may be disappearing like a shanked tee shot into a water hazard. -
The Republican National Convention held a gala marking the historic elections of three lawmakers, as the GOP continues its efforts to reach out to communities of color. -
A group of black Congressional staffers staged a protest and walked out of the Capitol on Thursday. They were protesting recent grand jury decisions not to indict police officers who killed unarmed black men.
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House lawmakers will give the Sept. 11 attacks in Libya two years ago a fresh look. Wednesday's hearing will be the first public one since Gowdy, R-S.C., became head of a special Benghazi committee. -
Even as technology and social media transform politics, some traditions still live on — like the annual Shad Planking festival in Wakefield. It's a must-attend event on Virginia's political calendar.
