Lawmakers aren’t the only ones who will share some of the limelight Tuesday night at President Donald Trump’s first State of the Union address back in office.
So too will hundreds of guests brought by administration officials and members of Congress, offering a window into the subtle political statements made by Republicans and Democrats ahead of the November midterm elections and the issues they hope to spotlight.
From impacted constituents and survivors of Jeffrey Epstein‘s abuse and local government officials, below is a list of who some lawmakers plan to bring to the president’s annual joint address to Congress.
Epstein survivors
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) will bring six guests, each of whom is meant to protest different aspects of Trump’s second term. One of them is New Yorker and Epstein abuse survivor Dani Bensky, who met the disgraced financier at 17 years old when she was a young ballerina. Schumer has accused the administration of failing to follow the Epstein-related law requiring the full release of all the Epstein files.
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) will bring Haley Robson, an Epstein abuse survivor. Khanna led a bipartisan charge to pass a law requiring the administration to release the Epstein files, and Robson is a former Trump voter who later recanted her support.
“Haley’s courageous fight is proof that this isn’t about politics, it’s about exposing America’s two-tiered system of justice and bringing accountability to the Epstein class involved in the horrific abuse of young girls,” Khanna said.
Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA) is bringing Sky Roberts, the brother of the deceased victim Virginia Giuffre, who died by suicide last year and was one of the most outspoken survivors of the late-sex offender’s abuse.
Immigration
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), facing a tough three-way primary that could upend his decadeslong Senate career, is bringing the head of the U.S. Border Patrol union, Paul Perez.
“As president of the National Border Patrol Council, Paul Perez plays an integral role in advocating for the policies needed to ensure the border is secure and our brave Border Patrol officers have the resources necessary to enforce federal immigration law,” Cornyn said in a statement.
Perez called Cornyn a “strong advocate” for the union who “has always supported President Trump’s priorities; one of the most important being to secure our nation’s borders.”
Schumer will also bring Raiza Contreras, the mother of a New York City public school student detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. A partial government shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, drags into its second week over Democrats’ demands to scale back Trump’s deportation tactics.
‘Mr. Wonderful’
Sen. Rick Scott‘s (R-FL) guest is wealthy investor Kevin O’Leary, known by many for his reality TV role on Shark Tank and frequent appearances on media programs to discuss the economy. O’Leary testified before the Senate Aging Committee last year, which Scott chairs, on Chinese threats to American investors and seniors.
Impacted constituents
Schumer will also bring Gearoid Keogh, a former construction worker on the Gateway Tunnel Project between New York and New Jersey who lost his job after Trump halted funding; Aleshandra Fernandes, a Long Island iron worker whose work on offshore wind projects has been impacted by the administration; Eva Wood, a mother of seven who is facing increased healthcare costs after enhanced subsidies for her Affordable Care Act insurance lapsed at the end of last year; and Ben Pearson, a New York small-business owner who is paying nearly $1 million a year from Trump’s tariffs and has laid off more than 15 people.
Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) is bringing a South Bronx pastor and local community advocate, Reverend John Udo-Okon, to “bring attention to what he is seeing in the Bronx as a result of the White House’s assault on working people,” according to Torres’s office.
Rep. Gwen Moore’s (D-WI) guest is Kara Pitt-D’Andrea, the executive director of Milwaukee’s Renaissance Child Development Center, who lobbied Congress to extend the now-expired enhanced subsidies for Obamacare health insurance plans.
Rep. Ami Bera (D-CA) will join other Democrats skipping the speech in protest of Trump. However, Bera’s guest, Board Vice President of Sacramento Municipal Utility District Rob Kerth, will still attend.
Bera wrote in an op-ed that while he “feel[s] an obligation to attend the State of the Union out of respect,” he will not “give [Trump] the dignity of having my presence” after “watching President Trump run roughshod over the Constitution, display utter disregard for Congress, and openly engage in corruption as he and his family use the office to enrich themselves and tarnish this country that I love.”
Spouses
Some lawmakers choose to take the less political route with their seatmates. Sen. John Curtis (R-UT) and Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) will bring their wives. Bacon is not seeking reelection and is retiring from Congress at the end of his term.
“I am going. Since it is my last one, I’ll be bringing my wife, Angie. After 16 moves in [the Air Force] and five terms in Congress, I’d like to bring her!” Bacon told the Washington Examiner, noting it will be his wife’s first time. “I’ve always brought civic leaders from the district.”
Curtis’s wife previously attended when he served in the House.