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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Wisconsin does not have automatic recounts, but a losing candidate can file a sworn petition requesting one if the margin of victory is less than 1%. Democrat Joe Biden leads by roughly 21,000 votes. -
Forecasters say Hurricane Eta is rapidly gaining strength as it churns towards the coast of Nicaragua. The storm is expected to bring life-threatening storm surge, flash flooding and landslides.
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A spike in cases recently led El Paso's county judge to impose a shelter-in-place order closing many nonessential businesses. The Texas attorney general has sued to block that order. -
The mark set Friday by Texas, with its 38 electoral votes, also comes on the last day of early voting in the state. Texas, once a reliably red state, is seen as a "toss-up" heading into Election Day. -
The judge's order calls for the closure of hair salons, gyms and restaurant dine-in services. The Texas attorney general says the judge has "no authority" to impose the shutdown. -
Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said the footage as well as 911 tapes would be released once Wallace's family has reviewed the materials. The Fraternal Order of Police supports the move. -
Mayor Jim Kenney ordered the curfew amid unrest after the fatal police shooting of the 27-year-old Black man. The city's police commissioner says bodycam footage will be released "in the near future." -
A judge sided with pro-gun groups, blocking a directive that banned openly carrying guns within 100 feet from polling centers on Nov. 3. -
Police shot and killed Walter Wallace, a 27-year-old Black man, in a confrontation Monday. National Guard troops will be deployed, at the county's request, amid protests following the shooting. -
The judge said he was "left with no choice" but to impose a countywide curfew from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. He noted El Paso County has seen a 160% increase in its positivity rate in the last three weeks.
