Eight Democrats announce State of the Union boycott

WASHINGTON — At least eight Democratic House members will skip President Donald Trump’s first State of the Union address today after Rep. Albio Sires announced Sunday he would not attend.

The New Jersey Democrat will boycott the speech “because many of his constituents are offended by the president’s rhetoric and behavior,” Erica Daughtrey, a spokeswoman for the congressman, told NJ.com.

Reps. John Lewis, Maxine Waters, Frederica S. Wilson, Gregory Meeks, Pramila Japal, Jan Schakowsky, and Earl Blumenauer are the other seven Democrats who previously announced they will skip Trump’s speech.

Each of those lawmakers has said Trump’s vulgarity, especially comments deemed hostile to non-white people, played a factor in their decision.

Wilson cited “recent racist and incendiary remarks about Haiti and African nations” as her reason to not attend.

Jayapal said earlier in announcing her plans to skip the speech that the president is “fueling the flames of divisiveness across our country” through “racism and the hatred coming out of the White House.”

Other Democratic lawmakers plan to demonstrate at the SOTU address in other ways. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and other women lawmakers will wear all black in solidarity with sexual harassment and assault victims.

Trump has been accused of sexual misconduct by more than a dozen women. He has denied every such allegation against him.

Skipping the State of the Union address, while rare, is not without precedent.

Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas missed President Barack Obama’s final SOTU speech in January 2016 because he was campaigning for president in New Hampshire.

Cruz’s absence was not a protest, just a scheduling conflict, his campaign spokesman, Rick Tyler, told The Dallas Morning News at the time.