--- title: All the Democrats Boycotting Trump's State of the Union description: At least 11 Democratic lawmakers will boycott President Donald Trump's first State of the Union address Tuesday night canonical: https://time.com/5123830/democrats-boycott-trump-state-of-the-union/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-01-29T21:01:24.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-12T22:30:25.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: All the Lawmakers Who Are Skipping President Trump's State of the Union Address og:description: "Why would I take my time to go and sit and listen to a liar?" og:url: https://time.com/5123830/democrats-boycott-trump-state-of-the-union/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7c0bdfe4734ceaad/6988f9fa8fd2ee4c6235a7f7/john-lewis-maxine-waters-ruth-bader-ginsburg.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: democrats-boycott-trump-state-of-the-union og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: All the Lawmakers Who Are Skipping President Trump's State of the Union Address twitter:description: "Why would I take my time to go and sit and listen to a liar?" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7c0bdfe4734ceaad/6988f9fa8fd2ee4c6235a7f7/john-lewis-maxine-waters-ruth-bader-ginsburg.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # All the Democrats Boycotting President Trump's State of the Union Address Tonight > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=07ada010-7879-4b61-8160-afb43186d52b&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Updated: Dec 12, 2023 10:30 PM UTCPublished: Jan 29, 2018 9:01 PM UTC  Rep. John Lewis, Rep. Maxine Waters and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg are among the Democrats boycotting Trump’s State of the Union Address on Tuesday, Jan. 30, in Washington, D.C. Rep. John Lewis, Rep. Maxine Waters and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg are among the Democrats boycotting Trump’s State of the Union Address on Tuesday, Jan. 30, in Washington, D.C. Getty Images (3) by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Updated: Dec 12, 2023 10:30 PM UTCPublished: Jan 29, 2018 9:01 PM UTC At least 11 Democratic lawmakers are boycotting the Capitol Tuesday night where President Donald Trump will give his [first State of the Union address](http://time.com/5123524/donald-trump-state-of-the-union-script/). That’s fewer than the 60 lawmakers who boycotted President Trump’s inauguration, but it’s not an insignificant number as the president makes a major address on his policy goals. Many of the Democrats boycotting Trump’s State of the Union address cited the president’s recent rhetoric about people of color and the perceived racism of his Administration as their reason for skipping the speech. Illinois Rep. Bobby Rush [said in a statement](https://rush.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/rush-announces-plan-to-boycott-president-trump-s-first-state-of-the) Monday that he refuses to “participate in pomp and circumstance” that normalizes Trump’s “egregious and hateful” behavior. “This is a presidency that has been built on racism, stupidity, and lies, which has already wasted enough of America’s time and I will not waste any more of mine,” Rush said. Two additional Illinois lawmakers will be boycotting Trump’s speech today, including Reps. Jan Schakowsky and Danny Davis. According to the [Chicago _Sun-Times_](https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/rep-bobby-rush-to-boycott-president-trumps-state-of-the-union-speech/), Davis will be in Chicago during the State of the Union address and will watch his colleague [Rep. Joseph Kennedy III](http://time.com/5123254/joe-kennedy-iii-state-of-the-union-what-to-know/) deliver the official Democratic response. Other lawmakers boycotting Trump’s State of the Union Tuesday night include: * Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) * Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) * Rep. Primila Jayapal (D-Wash.) * Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) * Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) * Rep. Albio Sires (D-N.J.) * Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) * Rep. Frederica S. Wilson (D-Fla.) Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg also announced [she will skip Trump’s speech](http://time.com/5123056/ruth-bader-ginsburg-trump-state-of-the-union-2018/). A number of the boycotting Democrats are members of the Congressional Black Caucus, a group that expressed outrage over the president’s [alleged “shithole countries” remark](http://time.com/5102973/donald-trump-racist-shithole-countries/) about African nations and Haiti. (The Caucus’s chairman, Louisiana Rep. Cedric Richmond, [introduced a resolution to censure President Trump](https://www.politico.com/story/2018/01/18/trump-censure-congressional-black-caucus-346282) over the remarks earlier in January.) In the wake of those remarks, civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis was among the first Democratic lawmakers who said they would not be attending the State of the Union address. [Jayapal](https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/rep-pramila-jayapal-to-boycott-state-of-the-union-address-due-to-racism-from-white-house/) followed suit saying “with all the racism and hatred coming out of this White House, I will NOT be attending Donald Trump’s State of the Union address” over Martin Luther King Jr. weekend. Sires said it was “disgusting that the President of the United States has no regard for American values or the immigrant experience” when he [announced his boycott of the address on Twitter](http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2018/01/this%5Fnj%5Flawmaker%5Fis%5Fboycotting%5Ftrumps%5Fstate%5Fof%5Fthe.html). > [](https://twitter.com/RepSires/status/951844155478761472) Waters has been an outspoken critic of President Trump throughout his administration and did not attend Trump’s inauguration or his first address to a joint session of Congress last year. “Why would I take my time to go and sit and listen to a liar,” she [said in an interview on MSNBC](http://thehill.com/homenews/house/368885-maxine-waters-to-skip-trumps-state-of-the-union). “What does he have to say that I would be interested in?” The California Democrat and card-carrying member of the so-called resistance will [deliver her own response](http://time.com/5123254/who-is-joe-kennedy-meet-the-democrat-responding-to-trumps-2018-state-of-the-union/) to Trump’s address on the BET program, “Angela Rye’s State of the Union.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5123830/democrats-boycott-trump-state-of-the-union/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5123830/democrats-boycott-trump-state-of-the-union/"},"headline":"All the Democrats Boycotting President Trump's State of the Union Address Tonight","datePublished":"2018-01-29T21:01:24.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-12T22:30:25.000Z","description":"At least 11 Democratic lawmakers will boycott President Donald Trump's first State of the Union address Tuesday night","url":"https://time.com/5123830/democrats-boycott-trump-state-of-the-union/","keywords":["state of the union","Congress","Donald Trump","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7c0bdfe4734ceaad/6988f9fa8fd2ee4c6235a7f7/john-lewis-maxine-waters-ruth-bader-ginsburg.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7c0bdfe4734ceaad/6988f9fa8fd2ee4c6235a7f7/john-lewis-maxine-waters-ruth-bader-ginsburg.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"democrats-boycott-trump-state-of-the-union","caption":"Reps. 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