Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez announced that she will be skipping President Trump’s State of the Union address on Tuesday night.
“After much deliberation, I have decided that I will not use my presence at a state ceremony to normalize Trump’s lawless conduct & subversion of the Constitution,” the freshman Democratic congresswoman from New York tweeted Tuesday afternoon. “None of this is normal, and I will not legitimize it. Consequently, I will not be attending the State of the Union.”
Ocasio-Cortez, 30, is not the only Democrat who will not be in attendance during Trump’s address to both chambers of Congress. Her fellow prominent progress freshman congresswoman Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts said she will skip the event as well.
After much deliberation, I have decided that I will not use my presence at a state ceremony to normalize Trump’s lawless conduct & subversion of the Constitution.
None of this is normal, and I will not legitimize it.
Consequently, I will not be attending the State of the Union.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 4, 2020
Reps. Earl Blumenauer of Oregon, Steve Cohen of Tennessee, and Frederica Wilson of Florida have previously announced their plan not to attend. Each of them have skipped Trump’s previous State of the Union speeches. In 2019, they were joined by at least three others in actively boycotting the president’s address. In 2018, at least 14 Democratic representatives boycotted Trump’s annual speech to Congress.
Trump will give his State of the Union address to Congress while standing trial in the Senate for impeachment charges passed in the House last year. A White House adviser revealed that the president will not address his impeachment during his speech.
The trial will likely end later this week after the Senate voted Friday not to subpoena witness testimony.
