Polarized local reactions to Biden’s State of the Union address

The nation’s polarized condition was evident in the reactions of North Coast Democrats and a local Republican Party leader to President Biden’s Tuesday night State of the Union speech.

February 07, 2023

The nation’s polarized condition was evident in the reactions of North Coast Democrats and a local Republican Party leader to President Joe Biden’s Tuesday night State of the Union speech.

Democrats thought Biden’s 73-minute address hit the right notes, held Republicans to account and demonstrated the 80-year-old president’s leadership strengths.

“I thought he did a great job. I thought he was upbeat. He was positive. I felt that he was very comfortable in his own skin,” said U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena. “He knows what he wants to do. He's in it for the right reasons. And I think that that came across.”

Meanwhile, Matt Heath, Sonoma County Republican Party chairperson, referring to the 2020 State of the Union speech, said: “I was glad to see that we have a Speaker of the House that's not going to tear up an opposition speech like we had Nancy Pelosi tear up Trump's. I was really appreciative of that.”

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Noting the moments during Biden’s speech that Republicans heckled the president — even as House Majority Speaker Kevin McCarthy shushed them — U. S. Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, said: “That was distracting and disruptive. But I thought the president powered through.”

Huffman said Biden successfully called attention to legislation that many Republicans had opposed, such as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and said his favorite moment in the speech was when Biden, speaking about projects funded by the law, said: “Whether you voted for this legislation or not, I’ll see you at the groundbreaking.”

Huffman called that “wonderful because our Republican colleagues fought us every step of the way on the infrastructure law and so many other things. But we can predict they will be there for the ribbon cuttings and groundbreakings and trying to do a little bit of credit taking for things they opposed.”

Biden, said Huffman, “was bigger than that, which was good politics and a good reminder of who delivered these results and who didn’t.”

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By:  Jeremy Hay
Source: Press Democrat