State of the Union Attendance

When watching the State of the Union address last night, I couldn’t help but notice not just who was in the room, like The United States Men’s olympic team hockey team and Erika Kirk, but also who WASN’T in the room —about half of the House and Senate democrats (Solender, 2026). Political polarization is clearly at an all time high right now, but what were those democrats trying to convey through their absence and was it effective?

It goes without saying that a boycott of this magnitude (unlike previous years) underscores the extreme divide between the Republican and Democrat parties. While not the only form of protest from democrats during the President’s address (there were also signs, catcalls, etc.), the absence definitely made an impact and contributed to the strong sentiments of “us vs. them” that seems to define American politics at this moment. 

House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries said at a press conference last week, “The two options that are in front of us [are] to either attend with silent defiance or not to attend and send a message to Donald Trump in that fashion…”(Tamasco, 2026). This explicit directive seemed to compel Democrats to partake in some kind of public protest to defy and disdain Trump and the members of the Republican Party seen as enabling him.  

Rep. Ami Bera of California said, “After watching the last 12 months of Trump, and his total disregard for Congress, it [attending the address] just didn’t seem like the right thing to do,” she told Punchbowl News. “I couldn’t find it in myself to go sit in that chamber knowing that he’s going to essentially troll Democrats.” (Cohen, 2026). 

 Even House minority Whip Rep. Katherine Clark of Massachusetts said, “Rather than listen to Donald Trump lie to the American people, I will be hearing from the people of my district about their personal experiences with skyrocketing costs, new barriers to health care, dismantled Social Security services, and brutal cuts to medical research.” The statements from these lawmakers demonstrate that some Democrats felt it would be disgraceful to go/participate in the State of the Union address if the President is just going to lie to Americans — something they said happens far too often and they are no longer willing to tolerate that.

Was this strategy effective for them? If they were trying to aggravate the President, I would say they were successful. In fact, during the address, President Trump said, “These people [Democrats] are crazy,” when he noticed that democrats wouldn’t stand for him, he said, “You should be ashamed of yourselves not standing up. You should be ashamed of yourselves.” That was what he said to the ones who did show up, not even at the ones who refused to participate entirely. These statements really put a spotlight on their protest, and resulted in democrats yelling back at the President. 

There were more than a few Democrats who thought the boycott wasn’t an effective way to express dissatisfaction or frustration with Trump. Some lawmakers thought a boycott was  too much, and ultimately wouldn’t actually push their own goals forward. Former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel told CNN’s Kate Bolduan “I think the Democrats should have shown up.” As well as, “…there’s a lot to disagree with. I don’t think it helps the Democrats. That said, the president was taunting them to play as his backboard to the shot he was taking.” (Suter, 2026). Others argued that this wasn’t enough. The Late Night Show Host Stephen Colbert spoke out saying, “For Democrats who did attend [the State of the Union], Hakeem Jeffries urged members not to make a scene, an approach he dubbed ‘silent defiance,’ which I believe is a bold rebrand of doing jack squat.”(Tamasco, 2026). 

Ultimately, I think that it’s disappointing to see that lawmakers feel like they need to excuse themselves from American traditions due to the cleavage within American Politics. Surely there have to be other ways that are more productive to express frustrations or even anger and no solutions can ever come if people aren’t present and engaged. Moreover, sticking around even when you may not want to doesn’t model the collaborative and compromising approach that Americans seem to be demanding of their political leaders. 

During this fraught and decisive time, we can hope and work towards a future in which lawmakers, law enforcers, and citizens are all showing up and working together towards a greater America.

Solender, A. (2026). Around half of democrats skip trump state of the union. Axios. https://www.axios.com/2026/02/25/democrats-boycott-skip-trump-state-of-the-union

 Tamasco, M. (2026, February 25). Stephen Colbert Rips hakeem jeffries’ “silent” Sotu protest as “bold rebrand of doing Jack Squat.” https://www.aol.com/articles/stephen-colbert-rips-hakeem-jeffries-192131182.html

 Cohen, M. (2026, February 24). Dems try a new strategy for Trump’s sotu address. Punchbowl News. https://punchbowl.news/article/washington/dems-sotu-strategy/

Suter, T. (2026). Emanuel: Skipping trump state of the union doesn’t help Democrats. The Hill. https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5755354-rahm-emanuel-democrats-trump-speech/

Tamasco, M., & Fox News. (2026). Stephen Colbert Rips hakeem jeffries’ “silent” Sotu protest as “bold rebrand of doing Jack Squat.” Fox News. https://www.foxnews.com/media/stephen-colbert-rips-hakeem-jeffries-silent-sotu-protest-bold-rebrand-doing-jack-squat

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