Roughly half of House and Senate Democrats skipped President Trump's State of the Union address on Tuesday, an Axios headcount found.
Why it matters: The massive boycott represents a shift in American political norms as the party's grassroots have pressed lawmakers to be more partisan and less conciliatory towards Republicans.
- Several members of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries' (D-N.Y.) senior leadership team were among the lawmakers who boycotted the speech, most notably Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-Mass.).
- "Rather than listen to Donald Trump lie to the American people, I will be hearing from the people of my district," Clark said in a statement ahead of the speech.
By the numbers: Axios counted 20 Senate Democrats and just under 110 House Democrats in the chamber at the start of Trump's speech.
- That is roughly half of each party's chamber Democratic caucus.
- Clark wasn't the only leadership member not present at the speech. Democratic Caucus vice chair Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) also explicitly boycotted, according to a source familiar with the matter.
- "I didn't want to be part of the drama," one senior House Democrat who skipped the speech told Axios.
Between the lines: Democrats held several competing anti-Trump events, including a "People's State of the Union" on the Washington mall.
The intrigue: Democrats started walking out of the speech shortly after it began, with Rep. Bill Foster (D-Ill.) leaving the chamber about 45 minutes into the speech.
- Reps. Lauren Underwood (D-Ill.) and Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.) followed suit a short time later.
- Democrats also immediately launched into protests and heckling, with Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) being escorted out for holding up a sign reading "BLACK PEOPLE AREN'T APES" and refusing to sit down.
