Illinois representatives to skip President Trump’s address to Congress

CHICAGO (WGN) — Illinois Reps. Mike Quigley, Jan Schakowsky and Sean Casten won’t be attending President Trump’s joint address to Congress on Tuesday evening.

While the speech is not officially called the State of the Union, a title reserved for a president’s annual address to Congress during other years of an administration, it is an opportunity for Trump to lay out his priorities for the year. The White House said the theme will be the “Renewal of the American Dream.”

But after a tumultuous six weeks into Trump’s second term, several legislators have decided to skip it.

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“This president has set flame to every democratic norm and principle of our government,” Rep. Quigley said in a statement.

His statement continued: “I cannot in good conscience adhere to the norm of attending his joint address. From starting a coup attempt on January 6, 2021, to appointing an oligarch to assault government services, and blatantly ignoring the separation of powers, Donald Trump has undermined our democracy every day since taking office. I plan to spend this time working on behalf of my constituents and focusing on making government work better to address the pressing problems facing Chicagoans including increasing prices for groceries, housing, and health care; public safety; and climate change.”

In her written statement, Rep. Schakowsky called her action a “boycott” of a “MAGA love fest,” saying: “We are living in unprecedented times. We have a President of the United States who thinks he has unilateral power and is breaking our laws and violating our constitution day in and day out. This is not business as usual and I refuse to normalize his egregious language and behavior.”

Rep. Sean Casten said he was skipping the address to not give the wrong impression of his intentions.

“To attend tonight’s Joint Session of Congress might be mistakenly assumed to imply I have respect for Donald Trump, Speaker Johnson, or the rest of Trump’s enablers,” he said. “To attend and be disruptive might be mistakenly assumed to imply I do not respect the office of the Presidency or the Congress of the United States. As such, I have chosen not to attend at all.”

WGN will broadcast and livestream Trump’s remarks, slated to begin at 8 p.m. CT.

Of the Illinois lawmakers attending, who’s on their guest list?

Many of the lawmakers attending the president’s address will be accompanied by invited guests.

Here’s what we know:

• Sen. Tammy Duckworth will be joined by Lauri Morrison-Frichtl, Executive Director of Illinois Head Start Association
• Sen. Dick Durbin will be joined by Dr. Elizabeth Sokol, a pediatric oncologist and researcher from Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago
• Rep. Robin Kelly will be accompanied by Dr. Lisa Green, the CEO and a provider at Family Christian Health Center (FCHC)
• Rep. Chuy Garcia will be joined by disabled Army veteran and 4^th district constituent Eric Rodriguez, who lives in West Lawn and works at Hines VA Hospital
• Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi will be accompanied by Steve Powell, President of United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 881
• Rep. Brad Schneider will be joined by Adam Mulvey, an Army veteran and 10^th district constituent who was recently fired from Lovell Federal Health Care Center amidst DOGE cuts
• Rep. Bill Foster will be joined by Joe Jackson, the Executive Director of Hesed House
• Rep. Nikki Budzinksi will be accompanied by Lisa Quandt, a special education teacher from Belleville
• Rep. Eric Sorensen will be joined by James Diaz, a resident of Monmouth, Illinois. Diaz is a disabled veteran who served overseas during the Gulf conflicts of the 1980s and 1990s. He was unexpectedly laid off in February 2025 as a result of actions taken by the Trump administration and Elon Musk.