President Donald Trump will deliver the first State of the Union address of his second term next week, but not everyone in Connecticut’s congressional delegation will watch it from inside the House chamber.
As an act of protest, more than half of the delegation will boycott the speech on Tuesday evening, and at least three lawmakers from Connecticut — U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, U.S. Rep. John Larson and U.S. Rep. Jim Himes — will instead attend a counter rally to be held on the National Mall the same night.
They will join more than a dozen Democratic lawmakers at the “People’s State of the Union” event, organized by grassroots group MoveOn.org Civic Action and progressive media company MeidasTouch. The event will also put a spotlight on Americans who have been affected by various policies of the Trump administration.
“Donald Trump has made a mockery of the State of the Union speech — taking a moment that is meant to bring the country together and turning it into a campaign rally to spew hatred and division. Democrats have no obligation to reward him with an audience as he lies and attacks people who disagree with him,” Murphy said in a statement.
“These aren’t normal times, and showing up for this speech puts a veneer of legitimacy on the corruption and lawlessness that has defined his second term,” he said.
Murphy similarly skipped Trump’s joint address to Congress last year just weeks after his return to the White House. The Connecticut senator was the only member of the delegation who didn’t attend, opting to give a prebuttal and participate in a live chat as Trump delivered his speech. That event was also organized by MoveOn.org Civic Action.
Larson, who faces a competitive Democratic primary for his Hartford-based seat this fall, chose to watch Trump’s speech last year. He shouted “bullshit” and “that’s a lie” as Trump repeated inaccurate claims that millions of people over the age of 100 were receiving Social Security benefits.
But this year, Larson is sitting it out. And he’ll have two guests from his district joining him in Washington, D.C., next week.
Moises Ricardo, a Cuban immigrant who lives in Bristol, was scheduled to take a citizenship test earlier this year. But he received a letter in late December from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services that the appointment was cancelled. That was shortly after the administration paused immigration from more than a dozen countries, including Cuba. Ricardo has been living in the U.S. for nearly two decades and currently resides in Connecticut.
“The only thing we will hear in Tuesday’s address is another barrage of lies. Trump and his allies are more focused on tax breaks for their billionaire buddies and transforming ICE into a personal army — even threatening to militarize our elections,” Larson said in a statement. “I cannot in good conscience attend this year’s State of the Union and will instead join with Americans from across the country to speak out against this president’s failed leadership. We need to disband ICE and divert its funding to the issues keeping families up at night.”
Larson called the cancellation of Ricardo’s appointment to become a U.S. citizen “discrimination.” Ricardo’s son, Marlon Ricardo Camejo, will attend the Tuesday night rally alongside Larson.
“As the son of a Cuban immigrant whose citizenship process has been halted, this moment is deeply personal,” Camejo said in a statement. “My father followed every legal step, worked hard and believed in the American promise. Being present in this chamber reminds our family that democracy is not just about policy — it is about people, about hope, and about the belief that this country is strongest when it keeps its word to those who follow the law.”
U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes, D-5th District, also said she won’t attend the State of the Union address and is working to set up something to hear from young people about their reactions to Trump’s speech.
Other members of the delegation, however, plan to go, including U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3rd District, U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, and U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn..
“I recognize fully that these times are not normal, that people have good reasons for not attending,” Blumenthal said in an interview on Thursday. “But I feel I want to be in the room and in the arena so to speak, face to face, expressing my disapproval head on even if it’s simply by silent defiance.”
As they have during past speeches, members of Congress typically bring a guest to reflect a certain theme or make a statement.
The guests of Connecticut’s delegation who were invited to last year’s presidential address highlighted the local impact of mass firings in the federal workforce and proposed cuts to funding.
They included a Marine veteran from Vernon who lost his job at the IRS days before he was set to secure permanent status, an inspector general to oversee Veterans Affairs who was abruptly fired by Trump, the 2025 Connecticut Teacher of the Year who raised concerns about the dismantling of the U.S. Department of Education, and the CEO of a community health center in Bridgeport.
On Tuesday night, Courtney will bring Mystic resident Lee Burdette Williams, whose household was affected by the expiration of enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits. This year, Williams and her spouse saw a monthly increase in their health care premiums from $742 to $2,352, according to Courtney’s office.
For those attending, Democratic leaders are warning members to abstain from protests inside the chamber. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., advised his caucus to “either attend with silent defiance or to not attend, and send a message to Donald Trump in that fashion.”
Last year’s speech was punctuated with some rowdy moments as well as quiet protests, with members holding up paddles with phrases like “Musk Steals” and “Save Medicaid.” The most notable outbursts came from U.S. Rep. Al Green, who interrupted Trump’s speech to say he had “no mandate.” The Texas Democrat was ejected from the chamber and was later censured in the House.
It remains to be seen if Democrats will adhere to the rule of “silent defiance” this time around, or if they’ll choose to walk out early again like Courtney and Larson did last year.
This year’s State of the Union will also happen on the backdrop of a partial government shutdown with the lapse in funding for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
The shutdown began last weekend after Democrats and the White House failed to lock down a deal on reforms to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, an agency that’s overseen by DHS. Without securing any changes to ICE, Senate Democrats said they wouldn’t approve additional funding for the agency, even a short-term funding patch.
Negotiations continued over this week’s recess with lawmakers out of town but have made little progress. The stalemate over ICE reforms and the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown will likely be a talking point during both the State of the Union address and Democrats’ rally next week.
The Connecticut Mirror/Connecticut Public Radio federal policy reporter position is made possible, in part, by funding from the Robert and Margaret Patricelli Family Foundation.
This story was originally published by the Connecticut Mirror.
