At least a dozen congressional Democrats announced Wednesday they will boycott President Trump's State of the Union address next Tuesday and instead stage a competing event on the National Mall. The rival gathering, dubbed the "People's State of the Union," is organized by MoveOn Civic Action and will be co-hosted by left-wing media company MeidasTouch Network, with commentators Joy Reid and Katie Phang serving as emcees.
According to the Daily Caller, the five senators and seven House members have confirmed they'll skip the president's address. MoveOn says additional "soon-to-be announced elected officials, leaders, and advocates" may join them.
The boycotting lawmakers span some of the most progressive members of Congress. And the language they're using tells you everything about where the Democratic Party's energy lives right now.
Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen set the tone in MoveOn's press release:
"I will not normalize Donald Trump's march toward fascism by attending his state of the union address. We cannot pretend this is business as usual."
Van Hollen added that he looks forward to "joining real patriots who are standing up and speaking out against Trump's lawless agenda." The word "patriots" is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that sentence, given the context.
Arizona Rep. Yassamin Ansari, who walked out of Trump's 2025 address to Congress, offered her own contribution:
"Last year, I walked out of President Trump's State of the Union because I refused to normalize the most corrupt and authoritarian administration in American history."
Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, who also skipped Trump's 2025 address, argued that attending "puts a veneer of legitimacy on the corruption and lawlessness" of Trump's second term.
Notice the shared vocabulary. "Normalize." "Lawless." "Fascism." "Authoritarian." These aren't independent reactions from individual lawmakers wrestling with their consciences. This is coordinated messaging from a press release. The spontaneity is theatrical.
The confirmed boycotters include:
This is not the party's moderate wing. This is the progressive caucus choosing performance over participation.
MoveOn's press release described the event as a "rally counterprogramming President Trump's night full of lies." Subtle it is not.
Sara Haghdoosti, MoveOn's Chief of Program, delivered perhaps the most revealing statement of the bunch:
"President Trump has spent the first year of his administration making all of our lives worse: slashing health care, sending masked ICE agents to terrorize our neighbors, and passing tax cuts for the Epstein class."
The phrase "Epstein class" is never defined or explained. It doesn't need to be. It's not an argument. It's a bumper sticker designed to associate political opponents with a convicted sex trafficker. That's the caliber of discourse MoveOn is bringing to the National Mall.
Ben Measles of MeidasTouch Network went further, claiming people "don't want to be gaslit and belittled by a president who covers up the Epstein files and sends masked agents to kidnap and kill them." He announced MeidasTouch would refuse to stream the State of the Union live, choosing instead to serve as the exclusive streaming partner for the rival rally, where viewers can "watch lawmakers who support democracy discuss thoughtful policies and how best to resist Trump's fascism."
A media company that won't air a presidential address but will broadcast a partisan counter-rally is not covering the news. It's producing content for a movement. At least they're honest about it.
A few of the boycotting members carry baggage worth noting.
Van Hollen and Ansari made headlines in 2025 for taking taxpayer-funded trips to El Salvador on behalf of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a reputed MS-13 gangbanger and alleged human smuggler. These are the lawmakers now positioning themselves as the conscience of the republic.
Reps. Pramila Jayapal and Becca Balint both claim the Department of Justice tracked their search history of the Epstein files to use as "ammunition" against them. No DOJ confirmation or denial of the claim has been cited. But the allegation fits neatly into the persecution narrative these members are constructing, one where skipping the State of the Union isn't petulance but resistance.
This boycott didn't materialize in a vacuum. It follows the spectacle of Trump's March 2025 address to Congress, where multiple Democratic members disrupted the proceedings. Rep. Al Green of Texas raised his cane and shouted at the president, earning himself an ejection from the House floor. Reps. Jasmine Crockett, Maxwell Frost, and Maxine Dexter were hauled into a so-called "come to Jesus" meeting with leadership afterward.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries reportedly gave strict instructions this year for members not to repeat those disruptions. The boycotting dozen appear to have found a workaround: if you can't disrupt the speech, simply refuse to attend it and hold your own event outside.
It's a neat trick. Jeffries told them to behave inside the chamber. So they left the chamber entirely.
The State of the Union is one of the few remaining civic rituals that forces the entire political class into the same room. The president speaks. The opposition listens, applauds selectively, and sits conspicuously still at other moments. It's uncomfortable by design. That discomfort is the point. It signals that even fierce adversaries share a constitutional framework.
Walking out of it is a statement. Boycotting it to hold a competing rally organized by a progressive advocacy group and streamed by a left-wing media outfit is something else. It's the construction of a parallel political reality, one where elected members of Congress perform governance for an activist audience rather than participate in it.
These lawmakers weren't elected to attend rallies. They were elected to legislate, to debate, to sit in the chamber when the president addresses the nation, even when they disagree with every word he says. Especially then.
But "I attended the State of the Union and respectfully disagreed" doesn't generate clips. It doesn't trend. It doesn't get you on the MoveOn press release.
Twelve members of Congress decided that a pep rally on the Mall serves their voters better than doing their jobs. Their voters should remember that.