Next generation to deliver GOP's State of the Union response

Two days after an Alabama Supreme Court ruling that threatened fertility clinics in the state, Sen. Katie Britt placed a call to former President Donald Trump.

Britt wanted Trump, then on a plane headed to South Carolina, to understand the significance of what had happened. The court's ruling that frozen embryos can be considered children under state law was already blocking access to in vitro fertilization at clinics across the state. Britt made the argument to Trump that the practice should be embraced by the Republican Party — it is pro-life and pro-family, she said.

Within hours of the conversation, Trump issued a statement that said he would “strongly support the availability of IVF,” and he called on lawmakers in Alabama to preserve access to the treatment. “I got a call from Katie Britt, a very wonderful young senator in Alabama,” Trump recalled in an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity several days later. “And I said, we want that. We want people to help. We're on the side of women.”

After only a year in the Senate, Britt is wielding her influence — and her blend of experience as a former congressional staffer and mother — to carve out a unique role in the party. As the youngest female senator, she represents a new generation of Republicans in a volatile political era. And the party is now amplifying her voice, entrusting Britt to deliver the Republican response to President Joe Biden's State of the Union speech on Thursday evening. “At this decisive moment in our country's history, it's time for the next generation to step up and preserve the American Dream for our children and our grandchildren,” Britt said in a statement with congressional leaders announcing that she would give the response.

Britt, 42, was elected to the Senate in 2022 after a bruising primary campaign in which Trump rescinded his endorsement of former Republican Rep. Mo Brooks and switched to backing Britt. On the campaign trail, Britt often touted her strong Christian faith and used the slogan “Alabama First,” echoing Trump's “America First” rhetoric.

After she was elected, Britt said she would be a “mama on a mission” to get things done in Washington.

Soon after she was sworn in, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell tapped Britt to be one of several advisers who sit in on weekly leadership meetings. At the time, she said she believed she brought a critical perspective that was often missing in Washington, not only because of her age but also as the only Republican senator who is a mother of school-age children.

Announcing last week that Britt would give the party response, McConnell called Britt “an unapologetic optimist” and said she “wasted no time in becoming a leading voice.” In her year in office, Britt has made immigration one of her key issues, participating in early negotiations on a Senate border deal before dropping out and eventually voting against it. She has also worked on issues with a family focus, co-authoring a bipartisan bill aimed at protecting children online.

She joined a delegation of senators visiting Israel shortly after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas where she spoke emotionally and forcefully at a press conference, wearing a large diamond cross that rarely leaves her neck: “Make no mistake, I believe that people of all faiths can exist in peace and prosperity,” she said. “But I do not believe that good can exist with evil.”

Britt has been a reliably conservative vote, rarely wavering from the party line, or Trump, on key issues. But her approach has differed from many of the other new Republican senators — all men — who arrived at the same time last year and joined with the right flank of the GOP conference in criticizing McConnell's leadership.