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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President Biden joined Sicknick's family and colleagues from the Capitol Police Tuesday night. Sicknick was fatally injured while fending off a mob during the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol complex. -
The cremated remains arrived with ceremony in a motorcade with members of Sicknick's family and were carried by colleagues into the Capitol. His urn rests on a pedestal next to a U.S. flag. -
Demonstrators gathered near a Rochester, N.Y., police precinct — not far from where a 9-year-old girl was pepper-sprayed last week. An officer is suspended, two others are on administrative leave. -
The incident renews scrutiny of the city and its police department following the death of Daniel Prude, a Black man who died of asphyxiation after an encounter with police in March. -
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency announced a modified version of the 737 Max will be allowed to fly once again. The Max jetliner was grounded worldwide after two deadly crashes. -
The brunt of the twister's damage was sustained in the city of Fultondale, just north of Birmingham. The Jefferson County coroner confirmed one dead, whom officials said was a high school student. -
Lindell, a close ally of former President Donald Trump, had been using his Twitter account to spread disinformation about the 2020 presidential election, including false claims of voter fraud. -
Protesters took to the streets of Tacoma, Wash., after several people were struck and at least two were injured. The officer was placed on paid administrative leave. -
"With the radical left now in control of Washington, your governor is your last line of defense," Sanders said in an announcement video. She was White House press secretary for President Donald Trump. -
Austin's near-unanimous confirmation came despite concerns raised on both sides of the aisle that he hadn't been out of uniform for the legally mandated minimum seven-year period.
