--- title: What to Know About the Designated Survivor description: The practice of tapping a "survivor" from the presidential line of succession during big events is believed to date back to the Cold War. canonical: https://time.com/7380862/state-of-the-union-trump-designated-survivor-who/ author: Chantelle Lee article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2026-02-24T20:18:50.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-25T16:17:38.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: What to Know About the Designated Survivor og:description: The practice of tapping a "survivor" from the presidential line of succession is believed to date back to the Cold War. og:url: https://time.com/7380862/state-of-the-union-trump-designated-survivor-who/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt668936eac8228377/69b0487344dc720dd9f73b09/Designated-Survivor.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Trump addresses a joint session of Congress og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: What to Know About the Designated Survivor twitter:description: The practice of tapping a "survivor" from the presidential line of succession is believed to date back to the Cold War. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt668936eac8228377/69b0487344dc720dd9f73b09/Designated-Survivor.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # What to Know About the Designated Survivors for the State of the Union > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### 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. by [Chantelle Lee](https://time.com/author/chantelle-lee/) ## Chantelle Lee Reporter Updated: Feb 25, 2026 4:17 PM UTCPublished: Feb 24, 2026 8:18 PM UTC  President Donald J. Trump addresses a joint session of Congress as Vice President J.D. Vance and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) listen in the Capitol building's House chamber on March 4, 2025 in Washington, D.C. President Donald J. Trump addresses a joint session of Congress as Vice President J.D. Vance and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) listen in the Capitol building's House chamber on March 4, 2025 in Washington, D.C.Jabin Botsford—The Washington Post/Getty Images by [Chantelle Lee](https://time.com/author/chantelle-lee/) ## Chantelle Lee Reporter Updated: Feb 25, 2026 4:17 PM UTCPublished: Feb 24, 2026 8:18 PM UTC When President Donald Trump delivered the [State of the Union address](https://time.com/7380575/trump-state-of-the-union-polling-democrats/) on Tuesday evening, one member of his Cabinet was not in attendance because they were tapped to serve as the [designated survivor](https://time.com/6253618/designated-survivor-2023-state-of-the-union/). The designated survivor is an official in the presidential line of succession who is selected to skip a function that convenes the federal government in one place—the State of the Union, inaugurations, or the President’s joint congressional address, for instance. That person is then kept in a secure, undisclosed location away from the area, so that the full government would not be wiped out if a catastrophic event were to occur. The U.S. Constitution doesn’t require a designated survivor or explicitly mention the process of selecting and sequestering a designated survivor. But the practice is believed to have started during the Cold War, when the U.S. government was increasingly concerned about the possibility of a nuclear strike from the Soviet Union. **Read more:** [_A Brief History of the State of the Union’s Designated Survivor_](https://time.com/6253618/designated-survivor-2023-state-of-the-union/) Here’s what to know about the long-standing practice, and who was selected this year. ## **Why is a designated survivor selected from the President’s Cabinet?** The designated survivor is meant to preserve the presidential line of succession, established by the Constitution, if some kind of catastrophic incident were to occur that incapacitated the President and other leaders in his Administration and Congress. To that end, the designated survivor is a government official who is in the line of succession—typically, a member of the President’s Cabinet. When Trump gave his joint congressional address last March, for instance, Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins [served](https://time.com/7264551/trump-speech-designated-survivor/) as the designated survivor. ## **How is the designated survivor chosen?** There is no official process or protocol for how the designated survivor should be chosen. It’s believed that the President and/or the President’s Chief of Staff typically select the designated survivor. The designated survivor [must be eligible](https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/the-constitution-in-primetime-designated-survivor-and-presidential-successi), under the Constitution, to serve as President, meaning they must be a natural-born American citizen and at least 35 years of age. ## **Why do lawmakers also pick designated survivors?** Congressional leaders have also, in recent years, begun selecting lawmakers to serve as designated survivors. Some [date](https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5752356-democrats-designated-survivor-trump-state-of-the-union/) the practice to the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001\. Those designated survivors are not tapped to potentially succeed the President, but to make sure that the legislative branch could continue functioning in the event of a catastrophic incident. ## **Who are the designated survivors for the 2026 State of the Union?** The designated survivor for the President appeared to be Collins, news outlets reported on Tuesday evening.. California Rep. Mike Thompson [announced](https://mikethompson.house.gov/newsroom/press-releases/thompson-calls-out-presidents-unlawful-actions-announces-selection) on Monday that he was chosen by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries to serve as the Democrats’ designated survivor for the State of the Union address on Tuesday. Thompson, though, said he would still be watching the address from a secure, undisclosed location. Democrats have tapped the California lawmaker to serve as a designated survivor each year since 2020, Thompson’s communications director, Lauren Ott, told [The Hill](https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5752356-democrats-designated-survivor-trump-state-of-the-union/). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/7380862/state-of-the-union-trump-designated-survivor-who/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/7380862/state-of-the-union-trump-designated-survivor-who/"},"headline":"What to Know About the Designated Survivors for the State of the Union","datePublished":"2026-02-24T20:18:50.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-25T16:17:38.000Z","description":"The practice of tapping a \"survivor\" from the presidential line of succession during big events is believed to date back to the Cold War.","url":"https://time.com/7380862/state-of-the-union-trump-designated-survivor-who/","keywords":["National Security","News Desk"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt668936eac8228377/69b0487344dc720dd9f73b09/Designated-Survivor.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Chantelle Lee","jobTitle":"Reporter","url":"https://time.com/author/chantelle-lee/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt668936eac8228377/69b0487344dc720dd9f73b09/Designated-Survivor.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Trump addresses a joint session of Congress","caption":"Trump addresses a joint session of Congress","creditText":"Jabin Botsford—The Washington Post/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/national-security/","name":"National Security"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/7380862/state-of-the-union-trump-designated-survivor-who/","name":"What to Know About the Designated Survivors for the State of the Union"}}]}] ```