Scoop: Dems eye protests at Trump's State of the Union
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Rep. Shri Thanedar holds up a sign at President Trump's speech to a joint session of Congress on March 4, 2025. Photo: Tom Brenner for The Washington Post via Getty Images
Some House Democrats say they plan to defy instructions from House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) not to protest President Trump during his State of the Union address on Feb. 24.
Why it matters: Even some top progressives and lawmakers who participated in demonstrations at Trump's speech last year acknowledge it wasn't their shining moment.
- "Last year didn't really work as envisioned," Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas), the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, told Axios.
- Another senior House progressive, speaking on the condition of anonymity to share details of sensitive internal conversations, said "there's just a feeling that it wasn't real effective last time."
Driving the news: Jeffries told colleagues in a closed-door meeting Wednesday morning to either attend the speech with "silent defiance" or skip it, according to multiple senior Democratic lawmakers and aides.
- The Democratic leader was frustrated with last year's disruptions, chewing out some of the most vocal demonstrators behind closed doors.
- He wasn't the only one: Many moderate and establishment leading House Democrats scoffed at the behavior at the time.
- One centrist House Democrat fumed to Axios on Wednesday that the disruptions were "completely counterproductive and made us look like children. We should be grown-ups, because [Republicans] are not."
What they're saying: Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.) told Axios he plans to attend the speech and that he would "love to show some resistance to what is going on."
- "I've done that through bringing articles of impeachment and I have done my best in committees to protest," he said. "I want to find a way to ... resist, because he needs to know that this is not normal."
- Democratic Women's Caucus chair Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-N.M.) said members will "make sure that our opinions with regards to Trump are understood" and that her group "will be doing a lot of stuff around the State of the Union."
- Others said they may walk out mid-speech, with Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) telling Axios: "The only question for me is which of his disgusting lines prompts me to get up and leave, because at some point I will."
The intrigue: Some of the most prolific disruptors of Trump's joint session speech last year didn't say whether they will attend this time around.
- Rep. Al Green (D-Texas), who was escorted out of the chamber and later censured for repeatedly interrupting Trump, said he has "not decided" whether to attend or if he plans to repeat his actions from last year.
- Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) said she is "not sure yet" whether she will go to the speech, though she plans to invite a guest and doesn't "want to leave them alone."
Yes, but: Don't expect anything on the scale of last year, when dozens of Democrats held up signs, heckled Trump and walked out early in protest, lawmakers stressed.
- "It's a somber moment in our country ... and so I don't expect anybody to do anything that takes away from the importance of that moment," said Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), the deputy chair of the Progressive Caucus.
- A second senior House progressive who spoke on the condition of anonymity, asked about the possibility of a coordinated protest, told Axios: "I don't think that's going to happen."
- "There is no organized choreography as far as I know," said Huffman.
The bottom line: For many Democrats, it's simply a dilemma over whether to even attend.
- Asked whether she plans to go, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) asked Axios what the date of the speech is.
- Told it is on Feb. 24, she replied with a smirk: "I'll have to check my calendar."
