Tonight at 9 p.m., President Joe Biden will deliver his 2024 State of the Union address before the full membership of the U.S. House and Senate – and the guests each of them is allowed to bring. Here’s who New Jersey’s members of Congress will be taking with them tonight.
Rep. Bill Pascrell: Ukrainian American leader Marie Duplak
Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-Paterson) will bring Marie Duplak, who leads the North Jersey chapter of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America. Pascrell’s own district contains a large Ukrainian American community, one which has been rocked by the now two-year-long war between Ukraine and Russia.
“For two years now, Ukraine has been fighting for its very survival,” Pascrell said. “Against all odds, Ukraine has stood strong. For months, we have been trying to pass fresh aid requested by President Biden. A supermajority of the Senate passed that aid and a supermajority of the House stands ready to do the same but for the blockade of the Speaker and a handful of extremists.”
“The President will certainly make a convincing case in his joint session address tonight,” he continued. “I want the Speaker and my colleagues to look into the face of Marie and others above them in support of Ukraine and see their anguish and determination. As the beacon of freedom, America must continue to come to Ukraine’s side and give Ukrainians the tools to finish the job and reclaim their liberty. Time is running out.”
Reps. Josh Gottheimer, Donald Norcross, and Jeff Van Drew: family members of hostages currently held by Hamas
Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-Wyckoff), Donald Norcross (D-Camden), and Jeff Van Drew (R-Dennis) will join a number of their colleagues in bringing the family members of Americans who are currently held hostage by Hamas or were released from Hamas’s captivity.
Gottheimer will bring Adi Alexander, the father of Edan Alexander, and Jonathan Dekel-Chen, the father of Sagui Dekel-Chen; Norcross will bring Yael Alexander, Edan’s mother. Edan is a Tenafly High School graduate, while Sagui is originally from Connecticut; both remain hostages of Hamas to this day.
Van Drew will bring Yehuda Beinin, the father of Liat Atzili, who was taken hostage by Hamas on October 7 but released in November of last year. Liat’s husband, Aviv Atzili, was killed during Hamas’s attack.
“Their presence helps make sure that no American forgets that Americans are still being held hostage as we speak,” Gottheimer said. “We must get these Americans back home now. For five months, American hostage family members have been living in fear as their loved ones remain captured with no updates on their whereabouts or condition. The Red Cross has not been allowed to assess their states. It is a war crime. It blows my mind that this isn’t talked about every single day in this country.”
“For nearly 150 days, Edan Alexander of New Jersey has been held by Hamas terrorists against his will in unfathomable conditions away from friends and family in the United States,” Norcross said. “It is an honor to have Yael, Edan’s mother, as my guest to the State of the Union to continue telling his story until Edan and every single hostage is returned home safely. Yael, Adi, and the entire Alexander family have shown incredible strength over these past five months. It’s time to bring Edan and the other hostages home.”
Rep. Tom Kean Jr.: High school sophomore and anti-deepfake activist Francesca Mani
Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-Westfield) will bring Francesca Mani, whose high school in Westfield was recently rocked by a deepfake scandal involving the distribution of nonconsensual AI pornographic images of students.
Following the scandal, Mani, whose photos were among those manipulated and shared by other students, became an advocate for increased deepfake regulations. In January, she joined forces with Kean in pushing for several House bills aimed at limiting AI misuse, including Kean’s AI Labeling Act of 2023.
“I am proud of Francesca for speaking up and advocating for women who have been victimized by AI generated deepfakes,” Kean said. “Francesca is a leader and a fighter, and I am honored to have her join me as my guest at the State of the Union tonight.”
Senator Cory Booker: IVF advocate Roshni Kamta
Senator Cory Booker will bring Roshni Kamta, an advocate for in-vitro fertilization (IVF) – a noteworthy topic in the wake of an Alabama Supreme Court ruling that declared frozen embryos to be children and thus upended IVF in the state.
As recently recounted in a New York Times profile, Kamta was diagnosed at 22 with breast cancer, and made the decision to freeze her eggs before beginning chemotherapy. The procedure is an involved and expensive one, but Kamta, a Jersey City native, received a grant from the Chick Mission, a nonprofit designed to help women in her situation.
“Roshni’s journey as a young woman navigating the daunting intersection of a cancer diagnosis with fertility challenges speaks to her unwavering resilience,” Booker said. “As we witness alarming attacks on IVF and other assisted reproductive technology, particularly in the aftermath of the recent Alabama Supreme Court ruling and the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, it’s crucial that we listen to people like Roshni.”
Rep. Mikie Sherrill: Communications Workers of America N.J. State Director Franceline Ehret
Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair) will bring Franceline Ehret, who for the last three years has led the New Jersey arm of the Communications Workers of America (CWA). The CWA represents 55,000 state, county, and local government workers across New Jersey, and is one of the state’s most politically powerful unions.
“As State Director, Fran is a powerhouse labor leader fighting for collective bargaining protections and stronger benefits for New Jersey families,” Sherrill said. “As the granddaughter of a union worker, I am honored to have Fran as my guest at this year’s SOTU to hear from President Biden, the most pro-union president in U.S. history, and to highlight the pivotal role unions play in bolstering the economic potential for workers and their families.”
Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman: Princeton professor Matthew Desmond
Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing) will bring Matthew Desmond, a professor of sociology at Princeton University who has published the books Evicted and Poverty, By America; he is also the principal investigator of the Eviction Lab, a nationwide database tracking evictions.
“His research on poverty and eviction in the United States has had a profound impact on the national debate surrounding these issues, and not only shone a light on the brutality of poverty, but offered a path to ending it,” Watson Coleman said. “We know that poverty is a policy choice and Professor Desmond’s work has done more to clarify that fact than almost anyone over the last decade.”
Rep. Frank Pallone: Elementary school teacher Luis Acosta
Rep. Frank Pallone (D-Long Branch) will bring Luis Acosta, a health and physical education teacher at Edward J. Patten Elementary School in Perth Amboy. Acosta is a participant in a local clean energy program called Solar Landscape that distributes solar-generated electricity to his home.
“His experience is a great example of the progress we’ve made to both combat the climate crisis and lower costs for American families,” Pallone said. “Thanks to companies like Solar Landscape, New Jersey is leading the way on the path toward a clean, low-carbon future. As the top Democrat on the Energy and Commerce Committee, I’ll continue to advocate for investments to bolster our transition to a clean economy.”
Rep. Chris Smith: Uyghur activist Rushan Abbas
Rep. Chris Smith (R-Manchester) will bring Rushan Abbas, a Uyghur American activist and the founder of the nonprofit Campaign for Uyghurs. In Congress, Smith chairs the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, which has focused heavily on Chinese oppression against its Uyghur minority population.
“Rushan Abbas is a tremendous advocate, not only for her unjustly imprisoned sister, but all Uyghurs who are oppressed and jailed within the People’s Republic of China,” Smith said. “The abuses they suffer at the hands of Xi Jinping’s genocidal ‘show-no-mercy’ regime are horrific –including and especially forced organ harvesting. The long arm of the Chinese Communist Party’s oppression even extends to the United States, where Uyghur Americans are harassed by Chinese agents. Rushan stands bravely against such repression and we stand with her.”
Others
Rep. Rob Menendez (D-Jersey City) will bring his wife, Alex.
Rep. Andy Kim (D-Moorestown) will not be in attendance at the State of the Union, since he will be competing at the Somerset County Democratic convention in his campaign for U.S. Senate.
Rep. Donald Payne Jr. (D-Newark) will be in attendance, but he doesn’t plan on bringing a guest.
This story was updated at 10:28 p.m. with details on Rep. Smith’s guest.