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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For Friday's national school walkout, students in the Nation's Capital are marching from the White House to the Capitol building to protest violence in schools.
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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.
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Inspired by Parkland students' activism following the deadly shooting at their high school last month, local residents are helping young demonstrators find lodging. -
In Tallahassee on Friday, Florida Gov. Rick Scott met with loved ones of the 17 people killed at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland last month. Scott also signed legislation tightening gun restrictions in the state.
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Friends, family and neighbors were aware of the man now accused of killing 17 people. So were two sheriff's departments and the FBI. Despite all the warnings, nothing was done to intervene. -
It's been a extraordinary week in Florida. Funerals, protest rallies, gun policy proposals and new details about what authorities knew about the gunman before the Parkland shooting.
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The FBI says it got a tip last month about the Florida shooting suspect, but failed to follow protocols to assess the threat.
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The 2012 GOP presidential nominee blasts Washington in an announcement video, saying, "Utah welcomes legal immigrants from around the world; Washington sends immigrants a message of exclusion." -
Throughout the crowds at Women's Marches on Saturday were thousands of knitted pink caps. People wore them to send a message to President Donald Trump.
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Immigrants and activists throughout the country are rallying in anticipation of Donald Trump's inauguration. They're protesting against mass deportation, which Trump discussed on the campaign trail.
