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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Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, who has been quiet since the shutdown began, now says he's worried about housing programs and federal employees working without pay. -
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. -
Following the shooting this year at a Parkland, Fla. high school, there is evidence of a surge in voter registration and early voting among young voters, energized by the issue of gun control. -
Leaders want to send a "resounding message that love triumphs over hate." An increased police presence at Jewish institutions will continue, as it has since the Pittsburgh shooting. -
"President Trump, you are not welcome in Pittsburgh until you fully denounce white nationalism," a letter from some Jewish leaders said. The synagogue's Rabbi Jeffrey Myers escorted the president. -
The legal community reacts to the Senate's planned confirmation vote on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, including more than 1,700 law professors who say he displayed a lack of judicial restraint at a hearing last week that should disqualify him.
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McCain was shot down during the Vietnam War and was held captive and tortured for years. The ordeal helped fuel his political career. -
George Washington grew cannabis. Not the kind you toke, but the kind to make rope. Industrial hemp was returned to Mount Vernon this year to help cultivate a new image for the crop. -
Students across the country left their classrooms at 10 a.m. Friday to protest violence in schools. In Washington, D.C. students marched from the White House to the U.S. Capitol.
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President Trump has signed an executive order calling for stronger work requirements for public assistance. Supporters say the move will bring down public spending. Opponents worry it will make it harder for some to get the help they need.
