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Every year lawmakers are able to bring guests to the president’s annual State of the Union address, which many times is used as a political statement whether they support or oppose the current commander-in-chief and his policies.
This year several guests will serve the same purpose, which includes stances on policing and crime, abortion, foreign policy and a slew of other policy and social hot topics.
Other lawmakers are opting to bring guests to honor them for contributions to their districts or states.
Perhaps the most obvious stand-off between Republican and Democrats when it comes to guests, however, is the focus on pro and anti-law enforcement figures and citizens.
Many Democrats are bringing victims of police brutality or wrongful imprisonment, while Republicans invited hero cops and law enforcement officials to both honor their service and rebuff Biden’s soft-on-crime policies.
DailyMail.com breaks down some of the most memorable guests coming to Biden’s second State of the Union on Tuesday evening and the lawmakers who invited them.
All-eyes are turning to Washington, D.C. as President Joe Biden will deliver his second State of the Union address on Tuesday evening. Pictured: Biden delivering his first annual address for a joint session of Congress in March 2022
Right off-the-bat, Republicans are showing their focus on pro-law enforcement and anti-soft-on-crime policies. GOP Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik invited Montgomery County Sheriff Jeffrey Smith as her guest
Republicans
GOP Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik, the No. 3 House Republican, is bringing Montgomery County Sheriff Jeffrey T. Smith.
The New York lawmakers said that inviting Smith reflects her recognition of law enforcement’s plight ‘fighting against the crises caused by Joe Biden’s failed policies’ with rising crime.
California Representative Mike Thompson wants to honor those helping with wildfires in his state, so he invited After the Fire USA CEO Jennifer Gray Thompson to attend this year’s annual address delivered to a joint session of Congress.
House Foreign Affairs Chairman Michael McCaul of Texas wants to highlight Biden’s botched troop withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, so he is bringing former Afghanistan Ambassador to the United States Roya Rahmani.
Iowa Representative Ashley Hinson wants the focus turned to mental health care for veterans, and invited retired Army Sergeant Trent Dirks, who was able to overcome drug addiction and better handle his severe PTSD with a service dog.
‘I am honored to attend the State of the Union Address and to help raise awareness about the importance of improving veterans’ mental health care access,’ Dirks said, noting that his dog ‘Tracer saved my life and is a big part of my happiness today.’
Florida Representative Greg Steube opted for a non-political approach, instead inviting the man who called 9-1-1 when he fell off a ladder last month.
The 44-year-old congressman was cutting limbs off a tree when he fell 25-feet and sustained serious, but non-life-threatening injuries, including a fractured pelvis, punctured lung and several torn ligaments around his neck.
A delivery driver, Darrell Woodie, witnessed the fall and immediately called for help. He will join Representative Steube for the State of the Union on Tuesday evening.
Representative Greg Steube is bringing the delivery driver Darrell Woodie who called 9-1-1 when he witnessed the congressman fall 25-feet off a ladder when cutting tree limbs last month
Steube, 44, sustained serious, but non-life-threatening injuries, including a fractured pelvis, punctured lung and several torn ligaments around his neck
Republican fantasist George Santos appears to be trolling those critical of his frequent lies, which only came to light after he was elected to the House for New York’s 3rd congressional district in the 2022 midterms.
The congressman is bringing former Assistant DA Michael Weinstock of Brooklyn’s Special Victims Bureau, who was a volunteer firefighter and EMT who was among those on the ground responding to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
Among several other lies regarding his career resume, education and ethnic background, Santos also stands accused of falsely claiming that his mother died due to the 9/11 attacks.
Santos’ campaign website claimed his mother, Fatima Devolder, ‘was in her office in the South Tower on September 11’ and survived the attacks before dying of cancer a few years later.
This, however, contradicts a 2003 visa application obtained by The Washington Post that indicates she had not been in the U.S. since 1999.
Weinstock said he accepted Santos’ invitation to the State of the Union because he wants to raise awareness for the healthcare needs of 9/11 emergency workers as he suffers from a neurological condition related to his time at ground zero.
South Dakota Representative Dusty Johnsons is bringing two local sheriffs on Tuesday – Pennington County Sheriff Brian Mueller and Moody County Sheriff Troy Wellman – to bring attention to rising violent crime and drug trafficking issues.
Democrats
It appears Democrats are also looking to bring attention to crime, but rather than the rising rates of violence in cities across the U.S., the left is focusing on the issue of police brutality against minorities.
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The Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Representative Steven Horsford invited the mother and stepfather of Tyre Nichols, who died days after being beaten by five black police officers in Memphis, Tennessee.
RowVaughn Wells and Rodney Wells, the mother and stepfather of Tyre Nichols, are attending the State of the Union as guests of Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Steven Horsford. Pictured: The couple attends the funeral of Nichols, 19, on February 1
Nichols died January 10, three days after he was beaten by five Memphis police officers during a reckless driving traffic stop
During a traffic stop last month, the officers pulled Nichols from his car before they pepper sprayed and tasered him. A three-minute beating then ensued where officers punched and nicked the 29-year-old FedEx worker and father of a four-year-old.
One officer is heard in video of the incident yelling toward the other police, ‘I hope they stomp his a**.’
Nichols was admitted to the hospital in critical condition and died three days later on January 10.
RowVaughn and Rodney Wells, the mother and stepfather of Nichols, accepted an invitation to Biden’s speech.
Representative Cori Bush of Missouri is bringing Michael Brown Sr. as her guest.
The shooting and death of Michael Brown Jr. at the hands of cops in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014 was one of the first police killings that led to the launch of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Representative Cori Bush is bringing Michael Brown Sr. (center) as her guest. She said that Brown’s death at the hands of police officers in 2014 is what inspired her get into public office
The police shooting of Michael Brown Jr. contributed to the launch of the Black Lives Matter movement
‘The police killing of Michael Brown in 2014 is what propelled me and many others into lives dedicated to building a world where Mike would still be here with us — a world where his life could not be taken from him,’ Bush said upon announcing her guest.
‘A world where Tyre Nichols and the thousands of other Black people killed by police could live long, healthy lives full of joy,’ she said, bringing attention to the latest police killing.
Senator John Fetterman appears to be trolling his former Republican competitor Dr. Oz by bringing one of the two men whose sentences were commuted in Pennsylvania due to wrongful imprisonment claims.
Dennis ‘Freedom’ Horton will join Fetterman for the Pennsylvania senator’s first State of the Union.
Horton and his brother Lee served 28 years for a crime they did not commit, and Fetterman, who was Lt. Governor at the time, lobbied Governor Tom Wolf to commute their sentences for years served.
Senator John Fetterman (center) invited Dennis ‘Freedom’ Horton (left) to the State of the Union after he helped get commuted sentences for him and his brother Lee (right)
‘It’s an honor and a privilege to welcome Dennis to Washington to attend the State of the Union address with me,’ Fetterman said in a statement. ‘The incarceration of Dennis and Lee for a crime they did not commit is a stark reminder of the work we need to do to make our criminal justice system more equitable and fair.’
‘I fought for their commutations and countless others as chair of the Pennsylvania Board of Pardons, and as your U.S. Senator I will continue to push for second chances for those who deserve them. We should not be a society about vengeance, we should be a society about redemption.’
But Oz, who was the Trump-backed GOP candidate in the 2022 Pennsylvania Senate race, used wasn’t buying that the Horton’s were innocent, and used it as an attack line to point to Democrats’ soft-on-crime policies that have led to spikes in violence in U.S. cities.
‘If John Fetterman cared about Pennsylvania’s crime problem, he’d prove it by firing the convicted murderers he employs on his campaign,’ a spokeswoman for Dr. Oz said in September, just two months before the election.
Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey wants to bring more attention to the issue of abortion during the first State of the Union address following the Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade in June.
Markey is bringing Kate Dineen, who had to travel across state lines to get an abortion in Maryland due to new laws in Massachusetts that prevented her from being able to terminate her pregnancy in Massachusetts.
Dineen was 33 weeks pregnant when her son suffered a stroke in her womb. She was told he a 50 percent chance of dying before birth and doctors warned he could die shortly after being born.
She opted to terminate the pregnancy, but had to travel out-of-state for such a late-term abortion.
Democrats are furious that states are now implementing laws that restrict abortion service for women after the Supreme Court ruled Roe v. Wade was unconstitutional and gave the power of abortion regulation back to the state.
‘Kate Dineen, bravely shared her story of the anguish and uncertainty she experienced trying to get an abortion in Massachusetts. No one should face these barriers to care. I am honored that Kate is joining me at the State of the Union this year,’ Markey tweeted.
Senator Ed Markey invited Kate Dineen (right) as his guest to highlight the importance of abortion rights after she was forced to travel to Maryland from Massachusetts to receive a late-term abortion. Pictured: Dineen with Representative Aaron Michlewitz
