It’s become an annual tradition: Who’s on the guest list of local congressional representatives at the State of the Union address – which President Joe Biden will present on Thursday, March 7.
Los Angeles County representatives partake, often inviting a guest who personifies an issue they want to highlight. Those guests attend the Capitol amid the joint-session of Congress in which the president will speak.
Last year, for instance, Rep. Judy Chu, D-Monterey Park, lauded the attendance of local hero Brandon Tsay, the man who thwarted the Monterey Park mass shooter on Jan. 21, 2023, who in this particular case was the president’s guest, sitting with the first lady and an array of presidential invitees such as the rock star Bono.
Brandon Tsay stands as President Joe Biden acknowledges him at his 2023 State of the Union speech on Feb. 7, 2023. (Courtesy)
Her own guest last year was Juily Phun, the family member of a victim of the mass shooting in her district.
Like most years, the guests say something about the issues the nation faces. This year, they symbolize the national discussion from reproductive rights to border security, to public safety, to war in Gaza and the Ukraine.
This year, Chu will be joined by her guest Dr. Caitlin Bernard, an Indianapolis, Ind.-based obstetrician-gynecologist as her guest. The Indiana docto provided an abortion to a 10-year-old girl, pregnant after being raped in Ohio, after Roe v. Wade was struck down.
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Burbank, said that United Farm Workers President Teresa Romero will be his guest. Romero, an immigrant from Mexico, is the first Latina and first immigrant woman to become president of a national union, according to Schiff’s office.
Rep. Norma Torres, D-Ontario, known as the first former 9-1-1 dispatcher to serve in Congress, invited Richard Montoya Jr., a 9-1-1 Dispatcher and American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Union Member, as her guest.
Rapper Fat Joe watches during the first half of the NBA basketball All-Star game Sunday, Feb. 19, 2023, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
Rep. Nanette Barragán, D-Long Beach, invited Joseph Antonio Cartagena. You might know him as Fat Joe, a Grammy-nominated rapper from the South Bronx in New York. Barragán said Fat Joe was chosen because he a leader in “the fight for real healthcare price transparency, and an ambassador for nonprofit advocacy organization Power to the Patients.”
Rep. Brad Sherman, Sherman Oaks, will attend with special guest Keren Scharf Schem, the mother of freed Israeli hostage, Mia Schem, who was kidnapped by Hamas during the Oct. 7 attack on Israel and held in captivity for 55 days.
U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, D-California, chair of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, and Border Safety, announced that he has invited Dr. Denisse Rojas Marquez, a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipient, as his guest. He touted her path to medical school amid the hardships of overcoming barriers to health coverage, education, and employment.
L.A. County’s representaives join an array of guests, invited by legislators, from all over the nation.
There’s Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., whose guest is Dawn Chapman, an advocate for victims of radiation. He said she was “a tireless advocate for radiation victims in MO & around the country” in his post on X.
There’s House Speaker Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has invited multiple guests, including the parents of detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.
His guests also include New York Police Department officer Zunxu Tian and Lt. Ben Kurian, who he is hosting with fellow Republicans Anthony D’Esposito and Nicole Malliotakis, both of New York. The two officers were allegedly attacked by a group of people near Times Square in January.
Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., will host Intimaa Salama, a dentist and master’s student at St. Louis University. Thirty-five members of Salama’s family, including her grandmother and two of her brothers and their families, were killed in the Gaza war, according to Bush’s office.
Rep. Elise Stefanik, R- New York, invited Brandon Budlong, who is aa Border Patrol agent and president of the National Border Patrol Council Local 2724.
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