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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Paul Gigot, editorial page editor of The Wall Street Journal, writes, "There's nothing like playing the race or gender card to stifle criticism." -
Jacques Yves Sebastien Duroseau, 34, was found guilty of five counts related to gun smuggling charges. Court filings say he wanted to "train the Haitian police, and run for president of Haiti." -
The U.S. Justice Department said it is investigating whether Goodson, a 23-year-old Black man, had his civil rights violated when he was shot and killed by law enforcement Dec. 4. -
The Franklin County Sheriff's Office said a deputy shot and killed 23-year-old Casey Goodson on Friday. Law enforcement recovered a gun. His family's attorneys say he was licensed to carry a firearm. -
Dr. Rochelle Walensky is an infectious disease expert and teaches at Harvard Medical School. She will replace Robert Redfield, the current director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. -
Congressional Democrats seek to remove the "punishment" clause from the 13th Amendment which allows members of prison populations to be used as cheap and free labor. -
The teenager is accused of killing two people and injuring another during demonstrations over the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man who was left paralyzed. -
With coronavirus cases spiking and the job market struggling, President-elect Joe Biden announces the advisers who he hopes can guide the U.S. back to solid economic footing. -
"We do elections well here in Arizona. The system is strong and that's why I have bragged on it so much," said GOP Gov. Doug Ducey. Meanwhile, the state GOP tweeted, "DO NOT CERTIFY A FALSE ELECTION!" -
Among the names: Cecilia Rouse is nominated as chair of the Council of Economic Advisers. If confirmed, she'll be the first Black woman, and just the fourth woman overall, to lead the CEA.
