Maryland Democrats to protest Trump’s State of the Union with their presence, absence

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The White House)

Members of Maryland’s congressional delegation said they plan to register their opposition to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address Tuesday — some by being there and others by being absent.

Four of the state’s nine Democratic members of Congress said they plan to boycott the speech, Trump’s second since he returned to office. Another four will attend, but will be accompanied by guests who were invited because they have been affected by Trump administration policies.

It’s all part of Democrats’ strategy to “attend with silent defiance, or to not attend” at all, after a widely criticized response last year that ranged from lawmakers silently holding up paddles with messages like, “That’s a lie,” to walkouts and outbursts by Democrats during the speech. It was capped by a shouting, cane-waving outburst by Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) who was escorted from the chamber by police and later censured by the House for his actions.

In addition to boycotts this year, liberal organizations have arranged virtual and in-person counter-programming to the president’s speech, including the People’s State the Union and the State of the Swamp, that will offer alternative takes on Trump’s performance.

“The two options that are in front of us, in our House, is to either attend with silent defiance or to not attend, and send a message to Donald Trump in that fashion,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said during his weekly news conference last week. “Which will include participation in a variety of different, alternate programming that is going to take place in and around the Capitol complex.

Trump, who is not known for brevity, told reporters to expect “a long speech” Tuesday night.

[Amid polling low, Trump centers pre-State of the Union message on immigration]

The speech — officially the first State of the Union address of Trump’s second term, since the speech in a president’s first year is simply called an address to a joint session of Congress — comes at a time of sinking poll numbers for Trump. The speech comes during a partial government shutdown, over the administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement tactics, and just days after the Supreme Court struck down sweeping tariffs imposed by Trump, a key part of his agenda.

Democrats attending the speech will focus on Trump policy in their choice of guests, who will sit in the House gallery for the speech. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-8th), along with Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-Va.), have invited family members of Virginia Giuffre, a victim of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein who helped expose his crimes, but who took her own life in 2025.

“Virginia Roberts Giuffre bravely pursued justice for the victims and accountability for the perpetrators of the horrific crimes committed against girls and young women by Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, and other upper-class abusers who took part in the pair’s vicious trafficking ring,” Raskin said in a prepared statement on the invitation to Giuffre’s brother and sister-in-law, Sky and Amanda Roberts.

Raskin has been a harsh critic of the Justice Department’s handling of files in the Epstein case. While millions of pages of documents have been releasted, possibly millions more may be in Justice custody, and Raskin has charged administration officials of covering up files that reference Trump and other prominent men.

Rep. Johnny Olszewski Jr. (D-2nd) will be bringing Carroll County resident Michael Zabetakis, a retired electrical engineering technician who saw his health insurance premiums jump from $500 a month to $1,500 a month after the expiration of tax credits under the Affordable Care Act last year.

“I want the President to see Michael sitting in the gallery as someone representing millions of Americans who did everything right but are now being forced to shoulder crushing healthcare costs – all because he and Republican leadership in Congress failed to act,” Olszewski said in a prepared statement.

Olszewski said he decided to attend, rather than boycott the speech, out of respect for the “three coequal branches” of government. That was echoed by Rep. Sarah Elfreth (D-3rd), who will be attending with Maryland House Speaker Joseline Peña-Melnyk as her guest.

“After over a year of the President side-stepping and thwarting the will of Congress, I believe it’s important for us to be present and re-assert our role as a co-equal branch of government. The President may thwart civility, but I will not,” Elfreth said in a statement released by her office.

Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-5th) will also attend, but his office did not indicate whether he would be bringing a guest.

Maryland lawmakers boycotting the speech are Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Reps. Glenn Ivey (D-4th), April McClain Delaney (D-6th) and Kweisi Mfume (D-7th), who also skipped last year’s speech by Trump.

McClain Delaney said attending “would not meaningfully serve my constituents,” and said she would be taking part in the alternative People’s State of the Union to discuss Democratic alternatives.

Ivey said Democrats will be talking to voters in their districts about helping people lower utility bills, health care and other expenses and call for, “at a minimum, a complete overhaul” of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“I don’t feel like spending an hour and a half listening to him [Trump] lie and ramble and stuff. I don’t want to do that,” Ivey said Friday.

“We’ve chosen to focus on an alternative message out to people in our district. I think there are going to be a lot of Democrats that are doing this across the country,” Ivey said. “He’s going to tell them the economy is just fine. Everybody knows that’s not true. Affordability is killing people.”

Rep. Andy Harris (R-1st), the only Republican in the Maryland delegation, did not respond to a request for his plans for the evening, but he will likely be in attendance. Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.) did not respond to requests for comment on her plans.

The State of the Union is scheduled to begin at 9 p.m. Tuesday and will likely continue for several hours.

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