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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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." -
In Dayton, Ohio, police stopped a mass shooting early Sunday within a minute, but not before nine people were killed, including the gunman's sister. Victims were remembered at a vigil Sunday night.
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The African American Gun Association is at a crossroads, trying to decide whether to stay a community-oriented organization or get into the political fray. -
Virginia Beach is still coping with the horrific mass shooting at a municipal complex on Friday where 12 people were killed. Vigils are being held as some city officials returned to work Monday.
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Americans siding with Nicolás Maduro camped out inside the now-vacated Venezuelan embassy in Washington D.C. Venezuelans who support Juan Guaidó say the protesters have no connection to the country.
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The Department of Housing and Urban Development says Facebook allowed advertisers to use their platform to unlawfully discriminate by restricting which users can see housing ads.
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While the reopening of the government is welcome news for many federal workers, some express trepidation that they'll face the same predicament after Feb. 15. -
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. -
The shutdown means many HUD sponsored affordable housing programs are at risk of running out of money. Critics say landlords may not sign up in the future, if the government doesn't pay its bills.
