Alabama Sen. Katie Britt, the youngest Republican woman elected to the US Senate, is set to deliver the GOP’s response to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address late Thursday night as the party looks to undercut the president’s legislative record and his attempt to secure a second term.
Biden will deliver the annual presidential remarks before a joint session of Congress Thursday evening, and Britt’s rebuttal will follow shortly after. It has been an annual tradition for the opposing party to respond to the president’s address since the Reagan era, according to the Senate’s website.
Britt previewed in a post on X last week that she will “outline the Republican vision to secure the American Dream for generations to come.” In a separate statement she also said she was excited to bring the “critical” perspective of parents and families “front and center.”
Biden is expected to call on Republicans and Democrats to act on issues he says they should be able to agree on, including the fentanyl crisis, increasing assistance for veterans, addressing mental health, expanding data privacy protections and searching for a cure for cancer. He could also stress that another Donald Trump presidency is a risk to democracy after recently turning up the heat on his predecessor on the campaign trail.
GOP leaders have touted Britt, 42, as a leading voice in a new generation of Republican lawmakers in an attempt to draw distinction between the Alabama senator and Biden, the oldest president at 81. Republicans often point to the president’s age to make the case that Biden should not serve a second term, although Trump is only a few years younger at 77.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement last week that Britt will offer a “different perspective” to Biden’s attempt “to convince the American people to accept historic inflation, rampant crime, retreat on the world stage, and functionally open borders as the new normal.”
“Senator Katie Britt is an unapologetic optimist, and as one of our nation’s youngest Senators, she’s wasted no time becoming a leading voice in the fight to secure a stronger American future and leave years of Washington Democrats’ failures behind,” McConnell added in the statement.
Britt was first elected in 2022, when she also became the first woman elected to the Senate from Alabama. With Trump’s endorsement, she succeeded retiring Republican Sen. Richard Shelby, whom she previously served as chief of staff.
Britt’s state has recently been at the center of national headlines after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled last month that frozen embryos are children and those who destroy them can be held liable for wrongful death — a move that is seen as infringing on IVF and has prompted a number of GOP lawmakers to distance themselves from the decision. CNN reported that some providers in the state resumed some in vitro fertilization services Thursday, the day after the state’s governor signed a new bill into law aimed at protecting IVF patients and providers from the legal liability imposed on them by the state Supreme Court ruling.
CNN’s Lauren Mascarenhas and Isabel Rosales contributed to this report.
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