State of the Union: Here’s who lawmakers are bringing as guests
President Donald Trump’s State of the Union speech on Tuesday night gives members of Congress a chance to also make a statement with whom they bring as a plus one, with many of them opting to highlight their key policy issues and local ties by bringing a relevant guest.
Here’s a running list of whom lawmakers will bring to this year’s State of the Union:
Senate
Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin) — Les Danielson, a grain and dairy farmer and member of the Wisconsin Farmer’s Union from Cadott, Wisconsin
Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) — Dave Green, the former president of the United Autoworkers Local 1112 for the former GM Plant in Lordstown, Ohio
Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Washington) — Jake Satake, a high school student with Type 1 diabetes and affordable health care advocate
Sen. Chris Coons (D-Delaware) — Air Force Col. Dawn Lancaster
Sen. Catherine Cortez-Masto (D-Nevada) — Reno Police Chief Jason Soto
Sen. Kamala Harris (D- California) — Elder Joseph Paul Jr., the managing director for the Los Angeles Regional Reentry Partnership aimed at helping “former offenders reenter their communities and lead productive lives post-incarceration”
Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-New Hampshire) — Laconia Police Officer Eric Adams, who works as Prevention, Enforcement, and Treatment Coordinator at the Laconia Police Department.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) — St. Clair County, Missouri, native Keith Marquis, who speaks at local high schools about overcoming his methamphetamine addiction
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Virginia) — JROTC Cadet Nicole Rosario-Flores
Sen. Martha McSally (R-Arizona) — Hope Harrison, whose husband, Dustin, was killed by Somali militants in Kenya
Sen. Patty Murray (D-Washington) — Planned Parenthood patient Emma Bosley, who received medical care through the federal family planning program Title X
Sen. Jackie Rosen (D-Nevada) — Gil Hernandez, a Purple Heart recipient
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida) — Rushan Abbas, a prominent Uyghur human rights activist, and Florida’s Lt. Gov Jeanette Nunez
Sen. Rick Scott (R-Florida) — Nathan Law, founder of Hong Kong youth activist group Demosisto
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-New Hampshire) — Nashua Police Chief Michael Carignan, who has worked against substance abuse
Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Michigan) — Andrea Pietrowsky, a mom from southeast Michigan who became a health care advocate after her daughter was born with a severe congenital heart defect
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland) — anti-gun violence activist Andrea Chamblee, the widow of John McNamara, one of the five Capital Gazette journalists killed in the 2018 shooting
Sen. Todd Young (R-Indiana) — Sandy Terwiske, a Gold Star mother whose son Alec was killed in Afghanistan in 2012
House of Representatives
Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-California) — San Bernardino County Fire Chief Dan Munsey
Rep. Colin Allred (D-Texas) — Shane Thompson, a constituent struggling to pay for insulin
Rep. Kelly Armstrong (R-North Dakota) — Major General Alan Dohrmann
Rep. Cynthia Axne (D-Iowa) — Southeast Polk Special Education Teacher Shannon Baity
Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Arizona) — Mary Ann Mendoza, whose son was killed by an undocumented immigrant in a head-on car collision
Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-Oregon) — Serena Cruz, an advocate for health care accessibility and immigrant rights and executive director of the Virginia Garcia Memorial Foundation
Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-Illinois) — Diabetes advocate Cindy Ramos
Rep. Sean Casten (D-Illinois) — Dr. Dieter Martin Gruen, who worked on the Manhattan Project and at Argonne National Laboratory
Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) – MarÃa Rocha, a dual language teacher from San Antonio and recipient of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program
Rep. Judy Chu (D-California) — Islmail Alghazali, a US citizen living in New York City who was separated from his family by Trump’s travel ban policies
Rep. David Cicilline (D-Rhode Island) — Carrigan Nelson, a young cancer survivor whose health insurance coverage comes as part of the Affordable Care Act
Rep. Katherine Clarke (D-Massachusetts) — Rowena Chiu, an accuser of Harvey Weinstein
Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Virginia) — Hatice Cengiz, who was engaged to the late Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi
Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tennessee) — Michele Johnson, a healthcare advocate and executive director of the Tennessee Justice Center
Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Connecticut) — John Beauregard, president of the Eastern Connecticut Workforce Investment Board
Rep. Joe Cunningham (D-South Carolina) — Alison Martin, a pharmacist at the Ralph Johnson VA Medical Center
Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-Pennsylvania) — Patrick Flynn, a substance abuse awareness activist
Rep. Antonio Delgado (D-New York) — Chatham Police Chief Peter Volkmann
Rep. Val Demings (D-Florida) — Orlando City Commissioner Bakari Burns
Rep. Mark DeSaulnier (D-California) — Isabel Bueso, a medical deferred action recipient and a rare disease advocate
Rep. Dwight Evans (D-Pennsylvania) — Sister Mary Scullion, a Philadelphia homelessness expert and co-founder and executive director of Project HOME
Rep. Bill Foster (D-Illinois) — Aurora, Illinois, Police Chief Kristen Ziman
Rep. Jesús “Chuy” GarcÃa (D-Illinois) — Army veteran Miguel Perez Jr., who lost his green card and was deported to Mexico over a non-violent drug conviction
Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) — Chris Wiers, the president of Bath Iron Works’ Local S6 union
Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-California) – Maria Lidia Meza Castro, a 41-year old mother of nine from Honduras
Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Arizona) — Bill O’Keeffe, an inventor and innovator
Rep. Deb Haaland (D-New Mexico) — Brig. Gen. Michele LaMontagne, the second woman and the first person to identify as LGBTQ+ to serve as commander of the Air National Guard at Kirtland Air Force Base
Rep. Kendra Horn (D-Oklahoma) — Jena Nelson, Oklahoma’s 2020 Teacher of the Year
Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pennsylvania) — Ted Trevorrow, a community health center employee helping people get covered under the Affordable Care Act
Rep. Richard Hudson (R-North Carolina) — Sgt. 1st Class Richard Stayskal, a Fort Bragg soldier
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Washington) — Joey Massa, veteran and cancer survivor
Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas) — Dr. Frederick P. Cerise, president and CEO of Parkland Health & Hospital System serving Dallas County, Texas
Rep. John Katko (R-New York) — Mary Nelson, a community activist in Syracuse working to address poverty and reduce youth and gang violence
Rep. Robin Kelly (D-Illinois) — Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-California) — Rev. Jethroe Moore II, the president of the San Jose/Silicon Valley National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
Rep. Ann Kuster (D-New Hampshire) — Ross Cunningham, superintendent of Merrimack County Department of Corrections
Rep. Brenda Lawrence (D-Michigan) — Dr. Felix M. Valbuena, Jr., CEO of the Community Health and Social Services (CHASS) Center
Rep. Mike Levin (D-California) — Dr. Pat Davis, whose wife, daughter and sister-in-law died in a bluff collapse in Encinitas, California
Rep. Betty McCollum — Susan Shepard Carlson, board member and chair of legislation and public policy committee at the National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
Rep. Grace Meng (D-New York) — LaGuardia airport security officer Abdul Quddus Chaudhry
Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wisconsin) — Academy Award-winning filmmaker John Ridley
Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (D-Florida) — 16-year-old environmental activist Marsella Munoz
Rep. Frank Pallone (D- New Jersey) — Jillian Hudspeth, president and CEO of the New Jersey Primary Care Association
Rep. Jimmy Panetta (D-California) — Pablo Martinez, a former farmworker
Rep. Chris Pappas (D-New Hampshire) — Lara Quiroga, the founder of Manchester’s Adverse Childhood Experiences Response Team
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-California) — health care and disability rights activist Elena Hung, and Fred Guttenberg, whose 14-year-old daughter was killed in the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida
Rep. David Price (D-North Carolina) — Simone Afriyie, UNC Chapel Hill March For Our Lives president
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Maryland) — Thurmont, Maryland, Mayor John Kinnaird
Rep. Tom Rice (R-South Carolina) — Sarah Miller, a Florence County, South Carolina, officer injured in a 2018 shooting
Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Delaware) — Jan White, a stage 4 cancer survivor and small business owner from Newark, Delaware
Rep. Max Rose (D-New York) — Rob Serra, a 9/11 first responder
Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-California) — Elizabeth Esteban, a 16-year-old high school student and environmental justice advocate
Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-California) — Humberto Solorio, a high school counselor from Whittier, California
Rep. Kim Schrier (D-Washington) — Jacqueline Belur, an Issaquah High School civics teacher
Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Michigan) — Sarah Stark, a type-1 diabetic whose insulin costs have dramatically increased in recent years
Rep Jackie Speier (D-California) — Courtney Wild, a Jeffrey Epstein accuser and the namesake of the bipartisan Courtney Wild Crime Victims’ Rights Reform Act of 2019
Rep. Greg Stanton (D-Arizona) — Lynette Stant, Arizona’s 2020 Teacher of the Year
Rep. Pete Stauber (R-Minnesota): Mahaila Houle, a Duluth construction worker
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-New York) — David Fisher, a dairy farmer who serves as president of the New York Farm Bureau
Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Michigan) — Emily Parris, a special education middle school teacher
Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nevada) — not bringing a guest: “I’m leaving my guest seat open at the State of the Union to memorialize the victims of the 1 October shooting, honor the first responders who saved countless lives, and thank the entire Las Vegas community for showing the world that our city will always be strong.”
Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-Illinois) — Antioch nurse Karen Battaglia
Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-New York) — Jessica Moraima Ventura Perez, whose 13-year old daughter, Jaideliz Moreno Ventura, died on the Puerto Rican Island of Vieques in January
Rep. Marc Veasey (D-Texas) — Miguel Solis, a member of the Dallas Independent School District’s board of trustees
Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Michigan) — Jennifer Lewis, a third-generation dairy farmer from Hillsdale County
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Florida) — Emily Kaufman, a 15-year-old with diabetes who’s costs for prescription have risen
Rep. Rob Woodall (R-Georgia) — G. Jason Thompson, an attorney and Republican National Committeeman for Georgia
This story has been updated with additional developments Tuesday.
