Kelly invites Lightfoot to attend Trump’s State of the Union address

Mayor Lori Lightfoot is heading back to Washington, at least her third trip to the nation’s capital since taking office, and this time she’ll see President Donald Trump in person.

The mayor will be attending Trump’s State of the Union address Tuesday night, as the invited guest of fellow Democrat U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly, of suburban Matteson.

In a brief statement from Kelly’s office, the congresswoman suggested that

Lightfoot’s 2019 election was part of the reason she invited her, noting: “Her election made history as she became the first African American woman, first openly LGBTQ person and only the second woman to lead the nation’s third largest city.”

The mayor’s office didn’t offer an immediate comment.

Kelly and Lightfoot have become fast political allies with the congresswoman endorsing Lightfoot in last year’s mayor’s race over Cook County Board President

Toni Preckwinkle.

And both have been sharply critical of Trump’s policies.

As the president has hurled insults at Chicago from afar, in person and over social media, Lightfoot has pushed back. In November, Trump took to Twitter and criticized now fired Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson, saying his lack of leadership was the cause of crime run amok in the city. Lightfoot responded in kind, stating: “The crime wave you should be concerned about is the one you are perpetrating against the American people from the White House.”

And last week she attended the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ winter meeting in Washington, but boycotted his speech to the city leaders in attendance — choosing instead to attend the Trump impeachment trial in the U.S. Senate.

Now, Lightfoot returns to explicitly sit and listen to him lay out his successes from the past year, lay out his agenda as he campaigns for reelection and, if political pundits are correct, do some kind of victory lap with the trial expected to wrap up Wednesday — the day after his speech — with his acquittal.

Each member of Congress is allowed a guest, and very often those guests underscore the issues of the day — from immigration to gun control to trade.

Earlier this week, U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, a Chicago Democrat, announced his guest would be Miguel Perez Jr., the Chicago Army veteran who was deported to Mexico over a felony drug conviction only to return after Gov. J.B. Pritzker granted him clemency.

Garcia, whose family emigrated from Mexico when he was a child, made it clear in a statement that he invited Perez to honor his perseverance, but also to make a point about what he calls “a failure of our immigration system: deporting veterans who served their country.”