The White House has announced the 25 guests who will attend President Joe Biden‘s second State of the Union address Tuesday night.
The list ranges from Ukrainian Ambassador to the United States Oksana Markarova, who attended Biden’s 2022 State of the Union, to Brandon Tsay, the San Marino man who disarmed a mass shooter in Monterey, California during Lunar New Year celebrations in January, and the family of Tyre Nichols, the Memphis, Tennessee man who was beaten to death by five police officers in late January.
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White House officials say the guests will join first lady Jill Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris‘s husband Doug Emhoff in the first lady’s viewing box Tuesday evening.
Biden’s full guest list includes:
- Ambassador of Ukraine, Oksana Markarova
- Maurice and Kandice Barron (New York, New York), whose three-year old daughter, Ava, is a survivor of a rare form of pediatric cancer.
- Lynette Bonar, an enrolled member of Navajo Nation and former U.S. Army sergeant and medic
- Bono, lead singer of U2 and humanitarian
- Deanna Branch, a Milwaukee, Wisconsin who “shared her family’s experiences with lead exposure with Vice President Harris in Milwaukee in 2022 and at the White House in 2023”
- Kristin Christensen, an Elizabeth Dole Foundation fellow, and her daughter, Avarie Kollmar, who both advocate for military and veteran children in caregiving homes
- Ruth Cohen, a Rockville, Maryland Holocaust and a volunteer at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
- Mitzi Colin Lopez, a DREAMer and immigration reform advocate
- Maurice “Dion” Dykes, who “is currently training to fulfill his dream of becoming a teacher through a teacher Registered Apprenticeship program, one of the pathways supported by Tennessee’s Grow Your Own strategic efforts” through the use of American Rescue Plan funds
- Kate Foley, a 10th grade computer-integrated manufacturing student at Rolling Meadows High School in Illinois High School District 214
- Darlene Gaffney, a breast cancer survivor and awareness advocate
- Doug Griffin, a Newton, New Hampshire man who “lost his 20-year-old daughter, Courtney, in 2014 to a fentanyl overdose
- Saria Gwin-Maye, an ironworker and member of Ironworkers Local 44 in Cincinnati, Ohio
- Jacki Liszak, the President and CEO of the Fort Myers Beach Chamber of Commerce and is an elected Fire Commissioner for the Fort Myers Beach Fire Control District
- Harry Miller, a senior in mechanical engineering and a former football player for The Ohio State University who “announced he would no longer continue to be a student-athlete to prioritize his mental health”
- Gina and Heidi Nortonsmith, whose “work as plaintiffs in Goodridge vs. MA Dept. of Public Health led to their state becoming the first in the nation to legalize same-sex marriage
- Paul Pelosi, husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
- Paul Sarzoza, a Phoenix, Arizona small business owner, whose company “is expanding because of the President’s CHIPS and Science Act”
- Brandon Tsay, who “demonstrated remarkable courage when he disarmed the shooter responsible for the mass shooting at the Monterey Park Lunar New Year celebrations, ensuring his violent rage would not take more lives at the nearby Lai Lai Ballroom & Studio, which is owned by the Tsay family. Tsay is credited with preventing the gunman, who had killed 11 people and injured 10 others, from carrying out a second attack in Alhambra”
- RowVaughn and Rodney Wells, the mother and stepfather of Tyre Nichols
- Amanda and Josh Zurawski of Austin, Texas. According to the White House, doctors “were unable to intervene” when Amanda’s water broke at 18 weeks “because they were concerned that providing the treatment she needed would violate the Texas abortion ban.” Zurawski later “developed sepsis and nearly died because of the delay in receiving treatment. She continues to suffer from medical complications due to the delay”
Biden is expected to deliver his speech, his third joint address to Congress, Tuesday night at 9:00pm.
White House officials previously told reporters that the president will make the case that his economic plan is working, despite ongoing inflation and concerns about wage growth.
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Furthermore, several controversies hang over Biden as he heads to Capitol Hill, not limited to his foreign policy and mishandling of classified documents.
