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.
-
Paul Petersen was sentenced for his role in an international smuggling scheme trafficking pregnant women from the Marshall Islands to the U.S. for the purpose of having their babies adopted. -
"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. -
Maradona rose from the slums of Buenos Aires to lead the Argentine national soccer team to World Cup glory, suffered from substance abuse and then had a second career as a coach. -
Dana Nessel's office did not outline specific threats against Wayne County Board of Canvassers. The probe was announced a day after Michigan certified that President-elect Joe Biden won the state. -
San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin called the charges "historic" and vowed to apply the law evenly "no matter what the color of your skin....or whether you wear a uniform to work."
-
The matchup between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Los Angeles Rams made history because for the first time, the league assembled an all-Black officiating crew. The Rams beat the Bucs 27-24 in Tampa. -
Newsom said on Twitter that his children came into contact with a California Highway Patrol officer who tested positive for the virus. He said everyone in his family has tested negative so far. -
João Alberto Silveira Freitas died after an encounter with security guards outside a grocery store in southern Brazil. It was partially captured on cellphone video and later posted to social media.
-
"The Morgue Attendant will be provided maximum PPE, will be tasked with physically moving bodies, and will require the ability to lift between 100-400 lbs. with assistance," the job listing states.
