Not all lawmakers will be attending President Donald Trump’s address before a joint session of Congress this evening – namely, several high-profile Democrats.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) posted on social media that she’ll be sitting out the president’s speech
“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,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a post on Bluesky. Democrats have seemed to be in discussions on how to respond to Trump’s speech. According to reporting from Axios, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-New York, told his party to avoid disrupting or drawing attention away from the Tuesday speech.
Jeffries comments come as Democratic constituents have urged their representatives to fight back against Trump’s policies.
But Ocasio-Cortez is not the only Democrat who is set to boycott Trump’s speech, here is what you need to know.
Who will be skipping Trump’s address?
Keeping with tradition, Democrats will have an official response to Trump’s speech, delivered by Michigan’s Sen. Elissa Slotkin.
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., on Sunday called the address “a farce” he refuses to be a part of.
“I think it’s going to be a MAGA pep rally, not a serious talk to the nation,” Murphy told CNN’s Dana Bash.
Instead, Murphy and fellow Democrat Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii will co-host, along with podcaster and comedian Akilah Hughes, a live stream “prebuttal” beginning before and running through Trump’s speech.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., told USA TODAY he will also be skipping Trump’s speech and instead hold a virtual town hall with his constituents.