President Joe Biden’s State of the Union speech will be met and followed by the Republican answer from Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who happens to be the nation’s youngest governor.
Sanders, the First Female Governor
Sanders, who is 40 years old, is also the very first female governor to be sworn into office for the state of Arkansas. Sanders was sworn into office in early January of this year.
However, she is best recognized for her time working for former President Trump as his press secretary between the years 2017 and 2019. Her statement will follow Biden’s Tuesday night address in prime time.
Since 1790, the State of the Union has been presented annually, with the exception of years when a new president is inaugurated. However, the timeline of the opposition’s reaction is much shorter.
The Republican Party has tapped Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders to deliver the response to President Biden's State of the Union address—a nod that she's seen as a "rising star" among the GOP and a potential future vice presidential candidate, CBS News' @finnygo reports. pic.twitter.com/rcp11EZ2OD
— CBS News (@CBSNews) February 7, 2023
After Lyndon Johnson changed the yearly speech from an afternoon engagement to a prime time position, the very first feedback was received in 1966.
Republicans took advantage of the opportunity to start a new tradition since they knew they would have a larger audience than they had anticipated.
Just four Americans, including Biden, have given both the presidential speech and delivered the opposing party’s answer. He was a member of the 12-person team that gave the Democratic Party reply to Ronald Reagan, four decades ago when he was the junior senator from Delaware.
Young emerging talents in the opposing party typically provide the response and they often do so from locations other than Washington.
Sanders is the youngest daughter of Mike Huckabee, a past governor of Arkansas and two-time nominee for the White House.
She is a parent to three children and faced a turbulent time in the White House, clashing regularly with journalists and coming under fire for her appearance.
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a rising star in the Republican Party and the youngest governor in the nation at age 40, will deliver the Republicans’ response Tuesday to the State of the Union address. #TWTFrontPagehttps://t.co/uPLnM6RWMJ
— The Washington Times (@WashTimes) February 7, 2023
She will deliver her remarks on Tuesday evening from Little Rock.
Little Rock is the capital city of Arkansas. She has pledged to counter President Biden and the Democrats’ failings with her current party’s positive outlook for the future of the country.
The restoration to rational thinking and a dedication to the principles that built America as the homeland of freedom and home to the courageous is what America desperately needs. This is what Republicans are planning on giving, she said on Twitter the other week.
Juan Ciscomani, a freshly elected member from Sanders’ state in the US House of Representatives, will also respond to President Biden’s State of the Union address in Spanish.
More Firsts
Since 2004, the Spanish answer has intermittently occurred, a symptom of the increasing relevance of Latino participants in the US electorate.
Ciscomani happens to also be 40 years old. He hails from Mexico and is the first immigrant who has been elected to Congress in his state.
This article appeared in Conservative Cardinal and has been published here with permission.
