(Bloomberg) — The leader of the United Auto Workers, a young woman whose sister was killed in a school shooting and the prime minister of Sweden will be among the guests of first lady Jill Biden for the State of the Union address Thursday night.
They are intended to put faces on “issues or themes,” according to the White House, as President Joe Biden highlights accomplishments of his time in office and makes a case for a second term.
Biden, however, was deprived of a potential signature moment to rally support for assistance to Ukraine and opposition to Russian President Vladimir Putin when Olena Zelenska, the wife of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy as well as Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Russian dissident Alexey Navalny, declined invitations to join the first lady in the viewing box. The White House confirmed the invitations and the responses, but would not say why the two women decided not to attend.
While it’s unusual for a foreign leader to appear at a State of the Union, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson was invited ahead of his country’s expected accession to NATO, part of Biden’s campaign to strengthen the alliance in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Sweden is expected to become the 32nd member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization as soon as Thursday, when it’s likely to deposit its accession documents at the US State Department. After that, its blue and yellow flag is expected to be raised outside the NATO headquarters in Brussels at a ceremony on Monday.
Jazmin Cazares, another guest of the first lady, became an advocate for gun restrictions after her 9-year-old sister, Jackie, was killed in the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, in 2022. Biden has had little success in persuading Congress to enact new bans on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.
When UAW chief Shawn Fain organized a strike against the Big Three automakers last year, Biden, who presents himself as the most pro-union president in history, went to Michigan and marched in a picket line. The walkout led to a historic agreement and the union has endorsed Biden’s reelection.
Earlier: Bono, Paul Pelosi, Nichols Family Headline Biden Speech Guests
Other guests of Jill Biden include Latorya Beasley, whose in vitro fertilization treatments were canceled after a recent Alabama Supreme Court decision; Shelby Nikitin, a Navy commander who was awarded a Bronze Star for her role in protecting ships from Houthi attacks in the Red Sea; and the journalist Maria Shriver, a member of the Kennedy family who founded the Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement.
Members of Congress have also invited people caught up in events over the past year. For instance, Mia Schem, who was taken hostage by Hamas during its assault on Israel, will be a guest of House Speaker Mike Johnson.
–With assistance from Justin Sink.
(Updates with NATO details in the fifth paragraph. An earlier version corrected the timing of Sweden’s accession to the alliance.)
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Published: 08 Mar 2024, 12:54 AM IST