Here are the Democrats skipping President Trump's address to Congress
Several Democrats in both chambers of Congress are planning to skip President Trump’s first address to lawmakers of his second White House term Tuesday night, expected to be a wide-ranging speech after six weeks in office.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) posted Tuesday on social media that she wouldn't attend.
"I’m not going to the Joint Address. I will be live posting and chatting with you all here instead. Then going on IG Live after," she said on Bluesky.
Rep. Gerry Connolly (Va.), the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said he will boycott Trump’s speech “in solidarity” with federal government employees who have been terminated as part of the Trump administration's push to downsize the government and cut waste. Connolly also added that his protest is a way to offer backing for those both domestic and overseas who are set to be impacted by Trump’s agenda.
“We have never seen our laws, institutions, and the separation of powers so attacked from within. These are not normal times. The challenges my constituents face demand more than sitting in a chamber I revere, listening as if the person addressing our country is not unleashing chaos and cruelty on their lives,” Connolly said in a statement. “I cannot give audience to that.”
Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) wrote Tuesday morning that Trump will address a “coequal branch of government for which he has shown total contempt and disregard.”
“Meanwhile my constituents are seeing their livelihoods destroyed, often illegally,” Beyer wrote in a post on social platform X. “What he is doing is not normal, it is not acceptable, and I won't be attending.”
Rep. Kweisi Mfume (D-Md.) said Trump and close adviser and tech billionaire Elon Musk are “destroying the state of the union.”
“I don’t need to be there to watch him claim otherwise,” Mfume said in a Tuesday statement.
In a “Dear Colleague” letter, which was distributed Monday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) called on House Democrats to have a “strong, determined and dignified” presence at Trump’s speech.
“The decision to attend the Joint Session is a personal one and we understand that members will come to different conclusions,” Jeffries wrote.
“However, it is important to have a strong, determined and dignified Democratic presence in the chamber,” Jeffries added. “The House as an institution belongs to the American people, and as their representatives we will not be run off the block or bullied.”
Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) hammered Trump over his heated meeting Friday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, adding the president and Musk have “made life worse for countless Denverites and Americans, many of whom call my office every day expressing their frustration and fear that the Trump administration is doing nothing to help them.”
“Trump’s childish and shameful actions in the Oval Office towards Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, as well as his barrage of illegal attacks against public servants and vulnerable groups, have disgraced and embarrassed our country,” DeGette said in a Tuesday statement. “His actions are beneath the office of the President and do not merit my attendance at this Joint Address.”
Several Senate Democrats are also opting to skip Trump’s speech.
“Instead of attending Trump's SOTU, I'm speaking with constituents of mine like Scott, a disabled veteran who worked at VA helping to house homeless veterans,” Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said Tuesday on X. “Elon fired Scott. I'll be sharing his story along with many others.”
New Mexico Democrat Martin Heinrich said he will start attending Trump’s speeches to Congress “when he starts following the law.”
Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.) said on Tuesday that she — alongside Democratic Sens. Chris Murphy (Conn.), Brian Schatz (Hawaii), Ed Markey (Mass.) and Angela Alsobrooks (Md.) — will fact-check and offer live reactions to Trump’s speech.
“My conversation tonight will be the best way I can use my voice for Vermonters. They are sick of the lies and Trump’s complete and utter disregard for our constitution,” Balint announced Tuesday.
Murphy told CNN on Sunday that the “State of the Union speech is going to be a farce. I think it's going to be a MAGA pep rally, not a serious talk to the nation.”
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