President Donald Trump’s 2026 State of the Union address didn’t just divide Democrats — it physically split them in two.
Roughly half of House and Senate Democrats — about 20 senators and nearly 110 House members, per Axios tallies — boycotted the speech entirely on Tuesday night, February 24, turning their backs on tradition and heading straight to rival events just blocks from the Capitol.
“It’s just a bullsh*t, irrelevant speech,” Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., bluntly told the media after taking the stage at the “People’s State of the Union” rally on the National Mall.
Organized by progressive heavyweights MoveOn and MeidasTouch, the outdoor counter-event drew hundreds of supporters — including roughly 30 Democratic lawmakers — who braved 33-degree temperatures to denounce Trump’s policies in real time.
Murphy wasn’t alone. Rep. Sara Jacobs, D-Calif., one of several California Democrats skipping the speech, said her constituents made their feelings crystal clear: “The only thing I’ve heard is how happy they are that I’m not going.”
Democrats used the platforms to hammer Trump’s aggressive immigration enforcement and the 2025 tax cuts, framing them as gifts to the wealthy that left working families colder — literally and figuratively — amid rising costs and health-care burdens.
Chants of “Abolish ICE!” echoed across the Mall as speakers highlighted families torn apart by raids and an “affordability crisis” they blamed squarely on the administration.
Not far away, at the National Press Club, another crowd packed the “State of the Swamp” event — a glitzy, Democrat-friendly rebuttal headlined by Hollywood heavyweights Robert De Niro and Mark Ruffalo, along with activists, journalists, and former Trump insiders.
The parallel programming sent a clear message: these are not normal times, and Democrats are done pretending they are.
While some party members stayed in the chamber for “silent defiance” — sitting stone-faced or walking out mid-speech — the boycott wave, backed by House Minority Whip Katherine Clark and others, marked an escalation in resistance strategy. Grassroots pressure had been building for weeks, with progressive groups openly urging lawmakers to deny Trump an audience.
Trump’s address, heavy on border security, energy, and economic boasts, drew thunderous Republican applause inside the Capitol — but outside, the narrative was all about the “real state of the union”: families struggling, democracy under threat, and a president they say prioritizes spectacle over substance.
With midterms looming, Democrats are betting this show of unity in absence will fire up their base more than any polite applause ever could.
Whether the cold-weather rallies translate into votes remains to be seen — but one thing is certain: the traditional pomp of the State of the Union just got a whole lot less unified.
