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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Yang says Democrats need to articulate a vision for the country. "When we're talking about Donald Trump, we are losing to Donald Trump, even if it's in the context of talking about impeaching him." -
Rep. Elijah Cummings, a Democrat from Maryland, was widely admired as a champion for his hometown of Baltimore. Residents of Baltimore react to the news of his death.
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Michael McKinley says he quit his job and then testified to House investigators because of the use of ambassadors "to advance domestic political objectives." -
The New Jersey senator sat down for NPR's interview series Off Script and was asked by an undecided voter why some residents in his hometown of Newark don't see him as "the voice" of black youth.
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Two blazes, in Los Angeles County, and in Riverside County, destroyed more than 100 structures this week. Evacuation orders had been lifted in all of Los Angeles County by Saturday night. -
The NBA says it made the move after conferring with players. A league source tells NPR that the Lakers and Nets — who are playing Saturday — can hold their own media gatherings if they want to. -
"The long-held values of the NBA are to support the freedom of expression," NBA Commissioner Adam Silver says, after the league was criticized for its response to a tweet about Hong Kong.
