Pressley, McGovern join Sen. Markey in boycotting State of the Union address

Tim Dunn, Boston Herald on Feb 24, 2026

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BOSTON — Democratic U.S. Reps. Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) and Jim McGovern (MA-02) say they will not attend the State of the Union address Tuesday night, joining Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) in boycotting the event in protest against President Donald Trump.

A growing group of congressional Democrats have announced they will instead be attending “The People’s State of the Union,” a counterprogramming demonstration against the president.

“The State of our Union is traumatizing our children. And that is because of the violent rhetoric & policies enacted by the Occupant of the Oval Office,” Pressley said in a video posted to X on Tuesday. “That’s why I’m boycotting #SOTU tonight & my honorary guests are children who’ve been directly harmed & impacted by ICE.”

McGovern also announced his intent to skip the address on X, calling Trump’s speech a “manifesto of mistruths” in one post on Monday.

“I’ve gone to every State of the Union since I was elected to Congress—including during Trump’s first term. I’d rather stick needles in my eyes than listen to his manifesto of mistruths,” McGovern said, also posting a video of himself speaking on the House floor Tuesday bashing Trump’s claimed economic accomplishments.

MSNBC personalities Joy Reid and Katie Phang have been tapped to host the event, which will feature a lineup including Markey and fellow Democratic U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Tina Smith (D-NM), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), and U.S. Reps. Yassamin Ansari (AZ-03), Becca Balint (D-VT), Greg Casar (TX-35), Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Sydney Kamlager-Dove (CA-30), John Larson (DC-01), Delia Ramirez (IL-03), Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12). The event will also feature other soon-to-be announced elected officials, leaders, and advocates, according to the press release.

“The State of the Union should be a reckoning with reality, but Donald Trump will use it to spin fiction and normalize the gross abuse of power. He will claim everything is fine while families struggle to afford health care and housing, immigrant communities live in fear, and his billionaire allies loot the country under the cover of chaos – I will not legitimize those lies,” Markey said last week announcing his intent to skip the address.

Gov. Maura Healey also issued a statement ahead of Trump’s speech, attacking the president and his focus on affordability in America. Affordability in Massachusetts, especially with soaring energy costs along with high taxes and costly state climate policies, has posed the biggest reelection challenge to Healey for 2026.

“I wish tonight we would hear from a President who is focused on lowering costs, protecting people, and bringing steady leadership here and across the globe. But we are getting the exact opposite. This is a President who has declared that he’s already ‘won affordability,’ so we know his speech will be completely detached from the reality our families face and offer no plan to actually help them,” Healey said in a written statement.

The governor went on to highlight what she calls her economic accomplishments, also telling residents she is “focused on you and what matters in your life.”

“It starts with lowering costs. That means building more homes to bring down housing costs. It means bringing more energy in, opposing rate hikes and lowering energy costs. We are capping health deductibles and co-pays to lower the cost of health care. We’re making sure people can get the vaccines they need while President Trump tries to take them away. We’re making our schools even better for our kids and creating jobs in every part of our state. And my job as Governor is to protect people in our communities – that means protecting them from ICE. It’s why I’m getting ICE out of our schools, hospitals, nursing homes, courthouses and places of worship, and making sure people’s rights are protected,” said Healey.

“As Governor, I’ll do all of this and provide what this President is incapable of providing tonight or any night: stability, security and integrity. We will deliver on what matters in your life and build a better path forward for everyone in Massachusetts, together,” she said.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump will argue that Republicans are best suited to continue tackling the public’s concerns about the cost of living.

“The president’s going to make the case that three more years with him in the White House and with Republicans on Capitol Hill we can finally achieve the American dream in this country again that we had in his first term but was lost because of Joe Biden and the Democrats over the past four years,” Leavitt told reporters at the White House.

The speech will also be a “celebration” of 250 years of America’s independence, she said.

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