President Donald Trump will deliver the first proper State of the Union address of his second term tonight, and New Jersey’s members of Congress will be there to cheer him on or register their disapproval.
Well, most of them will be. Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing) and LaMonica McIver (D-Newark) have both said they plan to skip the address, instead attending a rival “People’s State of the Union” on the National Mall. Alongside the progressive group Democracy Defenders Action, McIver also delivered a “prebuttal” address that laid out what she anticipates will be said at tonight’s State of the Union and why Americans should reject Trump.
“We know what to expect. We know what the president is going to be talking about,” McIver said on a podcast appearance yesterday. “Who wants to sit through hours of rhetoric, hatefulness, and pure lies?”
Senator Cory Booker will also be skipping the address, and will spend the time “conducting interviews with creators and influencers including Don Lemon ahead of the speech as part of [the Senate Democratic Strategic Communications Committee’s] Creator Row at the Capitol,” a Booker aide said.
For the members of the delegation who will be in attendance, though, the address will be a chance to weigh in on Trump’s second term one year in, and many of them are bringing guests who will further drive home the messages that they hope the president will receive.
Frank Pallone and Nellie Pou: Gateway Tunnel construction workers
Since last fall, the Trump administration has been in a heated battle with the states of New Jersey and New York over whether construction on the Gateway Tunnel can continue – and Reps. Frank Pallone (D-Long Branch) and Nellie Pou (D-North Haledon) will be bringing construction workers whose livelihoods have been thrown into limbo by the dispute.
Derrick Healy and Justin Fowler, both Laborers’ International Union of North America union members and Gateway Tunnel workers from New Jersey, will be Pallone’s and Pou’s guests, respectively. The Trump administration released more than $200 million in frozen funds earlier this month after being ordered to do so by a federal judge, but Trump himself has shown little interest in backing down from the fight.
“I came to Washington from the blizzard in New Jersey to deliver a simple message to the President and his administration: When you shut down a project like this, you are stopping jobs, families, and critical transportation progress,” Fowler said. “When funding stopped, it didn’t only pause construction but our entire lives. Let us finish the tunnel so my kids and my neighbors will be able to use it for years to come.”
Herb Conaway: A constituent who videotaped ICE activity
Last year, one of Rep. Herb Conaway (D-Delran)’s constituents in Burlington Township had a group of masked federal agents arrive at her door and insist on speaking with her. The constituent, Jocelyn Cabrera, said through her Ring doorbell camera that she was not home and asked to see a warrant, but the agents continued to bang on her door for several minutes before departing.
Conaway posted the video of the interaction to Facebook, where it got hundreds of thousands of views, and Cabrera will now be joining the congressman as his guest.
“As an American who has suffered the injustice of ICE firsthand, I am here to say I will continue to be a support and voice for people being affected by it,” Cabrera said.
Chris Smith: The daughter of Hong Kong free speech activist Jimmy Lai
Jimmy Lai, a Hong Kong businessman and media tycoon who has advocated for greater democracy and transparency in his home city, was sentenced to 20 years in prison earlier this month under China’s national security laws. Rep. Chris Smith (R-Manchester), who has long used his perch in Congress to promote free speech in China, will be bringing Lai’s daughter, Claire, to the State of the Union in coordination with House Speaker Mike Johnson.
“[Claire] and her brother, Sebastien – who testified at a 2023 congressional hearing I chaired on Jimmy Lai – have been absolutely amazing in their past and ongoing appeal to Xi Jinping to release their dad,” Smith said. “They love and respect their father so much, which further inspires us all to act – including President Trump, who has raised Jimmy Lai’s unjust incarceration numerous times.”
Rob Menendez: The niece of a Colombian immigrant targeted by ICE
Since last year, Rep. Rob Menendez (D-Jersey City)’s office has been assisting Adriana Quiroz Zapata, a Colombian asylum seeker who fled to the United States to escape a violent and politically connected ex-partner. Menendez’s State of the Union guest will be Zapata’s niece, Monica Isabel Van Housen, who has been fighting to prevent Zapata’s deportation.
“Adriana, Monica, and their family deserve so much better from America than what Donald Trump, Kristi Noem, and ICE have subjected them to,” Menendez said.
Senator Andy Kim: A New Jersey caregiving advocate
In his maiden Senate speech last year, Senator Andy Kim spoke of the difficulties of caring for his ailing father, who was recently diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and who no longer remembers many parts of his own life. As his State of the Union guest, Kim will be bringing Cathy Rowe, the executive director of New Jersey Advocates for Aging Well, an organization dedicated to helping New Jersey seniors and their caregivers.
“Cathy is on the frontlines of the caregiving crisis and is bringing solutions to those who need it,” Kim said. “Every day she works with seniors and caregivers that are struggling to do too much with too little. It’s important that my colleagues in Congress, and the President, see her in the chamber and the millions of New Jerseyans and Americans she represents who need strong action to help our caregivers.”
Rep. Tom Kean Jr.: A local disability advocate
Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-Westfield) will be bringing Sherry Nelson, a Basking Ridge mother of two autistic children who previously led Bernards Parents for Exceptional Children, a “local non-profit that advocates for disability rights in our schools.” Nelson has more recently teamed up with local officials to provide more resources and recreational programs for disabled adults in her Somerset County community.
Others
Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-Tenafly) will be bringing his sister Emily; their mother, Gwenn, died of sarcoidosis in 2018, and Gottheimer launched the Congressional Sarcoidosis Caucus this week to advocate for more research and attention on the rare condition.
Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-Dennis) will be taking a member of his staff from South Jersey who is celebrating his birthday today.
Rep. Watson Coleman, though she will not be coming to the address itself, will bring Nedia Morsy, the director of Make the Road Action New Jersey; fellow address-skipper Rep. McIver has teamed up with Norm Eisen, a CNN legal analyst who was involved in Trump’s first impeachment trial in 2020.
Rep. Donald Norcross (D-Camden) has not announced his State of the Union plans and did not respond to requests for information from the New Jersey Globe.
This story was updated at 3:57 p.m. with information on Senator Booker’s plans.
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