President Joe Biden on Tuesday will deliver his second State of the Union address to Congress, a speech that will focus in part on advancing his so-called “Unity Agenda”: beating cancer, addressing the mental health crisis, tackling the opioid epidemic and supporting our nation’s veterans.
In attendance on Capitol Hill will be a number of high-profile figures invited by the president and first lady to represent those four areas of focus and other administration priorities.
The two-dozen-plus invitees who will sit alongside first lady Jill Biden in the viewing box were chosen “because they personify issues or themes to be addressed by the President in his speech, or they embody the Biden-Harris Administration’s policies at work for the American people,” per a White House statement.
For the second year in a row, the first lady invited Ukraine’s ambassador Oksana Markarova to join her as a guest for the State of the Union.
Those who will be seated alongside the first lady and second gentleman Doug Emhoff include Maurice and Kandice Barron, a couple whose three-year-old daughter is a survivor of a rare form of pediatric cancer.
“Their family’s story is one of hope and possibility, inspiring us to continue working towards a future where we end cancer as we know it,” a White House statement read in part, noting that Mr. Barron penned a letter to President Biden to, in part, “express gratitude for the Bidens’ commitment to the Cancer Moonshot initiative.”
Just over a year ago, Biden announced his plans to relaunch the Cancer Moonshot initiative, with the ambitious goal of cutting the death rate from the disease in half over the next quarter of a century.
It’s a program that dates back to Biden’s time as vice president. In 2016, the year after his son, Beau Biden, died of brain cancer, then-President Barack Obama called upon his vice president to lead the nascent moonshot program, with the goal of achieving “a decade’s worth of advances in cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment.”
Biden on Tuesday will call on Congress to bring “American’s cancer research system into the 21st Century,” per the White House.
Other attendees include Gina and Heidi Nortonsmith, whose case against Massachusetts led to the state legalizing same-sex marriage in 2004; Paul Pelosi, the husband of former House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.; Jacki Liszak, the president and CEO of the Fort Myers Beach Chamber of Commerce and an elected fire commissioner and musician Bono, the lead singer of U2, among others.
Biden’s guests also include RowVaughn and Rodney Wells, the mother and stepfather of Tyre Nichols, who died in January days after Memphis police officers brutally beat him during a traffic stop.
Nichols’ parents were initially invited to the State of the Union by Rep. Steven Horsford, D-Nev., the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus.
“Sadly, this incident, these incidents could happen to anyone in any community,” Horsford told reporters of Nichols following a White House meeting with Biden, vice president Kamala Harris and other members of the Congressional Black Caucus last week.
While Biden is widely expected to address criminal justice reform in Tuesday’s address, it is unclear how far he will go in calling for legislation – and the topic was not included in a White House outline of the speech.
Members of Congress are able to invite one person to join them as a guest to the State of the Union, an invitation that is often representative of a larger issue or a token of appreciation for acts of bravery and service.
Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., on Monday said she invited Michael Brown Sr. as her guest to the State of the Union. Brown Sr.'s son, Michael Brown, was shot and killed by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014.
"Like many on the frontlines of the Ferguson Uprising, my life changed eight years ago," Bush said in a statement. "The police killing of Michael Brown in 2014 is what propelled me and many others into lives dedicated to building a world where Mike would still be here with us—a world where his life could not be taken from him. A world where Tyre Nichols and the thousands of other Black people killed by police could live long, healthy lives full of joy,”
Rep. Jake Auchincloss, D-Mass., invited an independent pharmacist from his hometown.
“She really exemplifies two things,” Auchincloss told Spectrum News of Dr. Xiaoyan Qin, a Newton-based pharmacist who immigrated to the United States from China. “One, is the richness that immigrants bring to our economies and our communities and two, the work we have to do to lower prices at the countertop for americans."
Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., invited Brandon Tsay – a 26-year-old man who disarmed a gunman responsible for killing 11 people at a California dance studio last month.
“Hearing this story of this modest and humble young man, confronting this terrible gunman, and being able to take his weapon away from him after struggling with him, that is very important for our community to hear,” Chu said in late January.
Pelosi, whose husband will attend Tuesday's speech alongside the first lady, announced she invited former Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell as her guest. Pelosi called Gonell, who was injured during the Jan. 6 insurrection on Capitol Hill and testified in front of Congress about his experiences that day, a "champion of Democracy."
"Sergeant Gonell's personal story is one of duty and determination: coming to America as a young child, overcoming adversity and discrimination, and defending our Democracy in the Armed Forces and in the Capitol Police Force," Pelosi wrote in a statement. "An immigrant, a veteran and a patriot, Sergeant Gonell truly embodies the best of America."
On the Republican side, Florida Rep. Greg Steube invited a good samaritan who helped him after he was injured in a fall.
Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., the third-ranking Republican in the House, will attend with a local sheriff from New York state.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., told reporters on Monday that he invited former NBA star Enes Kanter Freedom to attend Tuesday's address, saying in part: “Here’s a man who stood up for freedom, lost his right to continue to play basketball, but he continues to fight."
In a tweet, Freedom – who is from Turkey and has been vocally opposed to alleged human rights abuses in both his home country and in China – said he was "deeply honored and humbled to attend the State of the Union address" as McCarthy's guest.
And embattled freshman Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., who’s accused of making false claims and embellishing his professional resume – including a family connection to the 9/11 terror attacks – invited Michael Weinstock, a Democrat and 9/11 first responder who suffers from ongoing medical issues.
"I would like to use this opportunity to raise awareness of what the men and women who suffer from this debilitating disease due to the exposure of the toxins from the World Trade Center,” Santos said Monday.