Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R-AK) has been chosen by Republican leaders in Congress to deliver the Republican rebuttal to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address next Tuesday from Little Rock.
Sanders is the first woman elected governor of Arkansas, assuming office on Jan. 1, 2023. A close ally of former President Donald Trump, she served as his press secretary from 2017-2019 and was known for having a confrontational relationship with the White House press corps. She is often regarded as his most effective press secretary.
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“I am grateful for this opportunity to address the nation and contrast the GOP’s optimistic vision for the future against the failures of President Biden and the Democrats,” Sanders said in a statement. She said Republicans are “ready to begin a new chapter in the story of America — to be written by a new generation of leaders ready to defend our freedom against the radical left and expand access to quality education, jobs, and opportunity for all.”
Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) touted Sanders’s credentials on Twitter following the announcement, saying she is the “youngest governor in America” and “the first father-daughter governance in history,” a reference to her father, Mike Huckabee, who served as the 44th governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007.
She is the
✓ Youngest governor in America
✓ First female governor in Arkansas history
✓ First father-daughter governance in historyEveryone—including President Biden—should tune in. pic.twitter.com/8FlP4p8OIL
— Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) February 2, 2023
“She is bringing new ideas for a changing future, while also applying the wisdom of the past, including from the leadership of her father, Mike. She is a servant-leader of true determination and conviction,” McCarthy said in a statement.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) called Sanders a “powerful advocate for the popular, commonsense conservative principles that will put our country back on a better course.”
Typically, the opposing party chooses a speaker who is viewed as an up-and-coming leader to deliver a response to a president’s State of the Union address.
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The tradition of a rebuttal to the State of the Union address started in 1966, and the response has since varied in format, with the speaker sometimes talking to a small group, alone in front of a camera, in a more informal setting, or even at a governor’s mansion.
Biden is set to speak before Congress on Tuesday in an address that will reflect on the accomplishments of his first two years in office.
