Most Bay Area lawmakers plan on attending President Trump's address to Congress as other Dems weigh response
As Democrats gauge their response to President Trump's address Tuesday to a joint session of Congress, most Bay Area lawmakers have indicated they will attend the address.
Among those attending will be Rep. Sam Liccardo (D-San Jose), Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-San Jose), and Rep. Jimmy Panetta (D-Monterey), each of whom will bring a fired federal worker as a guest.
Rep. Lateefah Simon (D-Emeryville), who won the seat occupied by former Rep. Barbara Lee, released a statement about her attendance.
"Quite simply, this is our House, and as my mother told me growing up—you don't let anyone kick you out of your own house," Simon's statement read. "We already know that President Trump will only continue to advance narratives that serve himself, and we have already seen how his actions have devastated the lives of Americans across the nation in only a few short months. But just as I have continued to uphold Congress' power of checks and balances as a Member of the Oversight Committee, it is important to me to reinforce Congress' separate, but equal power and act as a witness to truth tonight in the Capitol."
Other Bay Area Reps. Eric Swalwell, Ro Khanna, Jared Huffman, and John Garamendi have indicated they will be attending. Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, who famously tore up Mr. Trump's hard copy of his 2020 State of the Union speech, will also attend.
California's senators will also be at Tuesday's address, with Sen. Alex Padilla bringing as his guest a Los Angeles fire captain who fought the Palisades Fire, while Sen. Adam Schiff will bring a federal firefighter from Vandenberg Space Force Base as his guest.
Rep. Mike Thompson (D-St. Helena) has been named as the House Democrats' designated survivor and will not attend, nor will Peninsula congressman Rep. Kevin Mullin (D-San Mateo), who is recovering from surgery.
Some Democratic lawmakers have said they would boycott Trump's speech to Congress to protest the administration's executive orders on immigration, across-the-board firings of federal workers, Elon Musk's DOGE task force, creation of a tariff-fueled trade war, and foreign policy moves favoring Russia in its war on Ukraine.
Other Democrats are instead inviting fired federal workers to the joint session instead of boycotting the speech.
Rep. Huffman said in an Instagram video that he's not ruling out walking out of the address.
"I know that many of my colleagues are eager to sit in and express our profound opposition to everything going on," Huffman told Axios, hinting at some outward response during the speech. "It is far better to push back inside the room, I think, than outside."
