In the News
Trojans visit with U.S. Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove, whose district includes USC’s University Park Campus, in her office on Capitol Hill.
The boycott included prominent figures like Senators Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), as well as House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.-8) and Reps. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.-07), Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Calif.-37), Kweisi Mfume (D-Md.-04), Glenn Ivey (D-Md.-04) and Summer Lee (D-Pa.-12).
During a the "People's State of the Union" on Tuesday, Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA) criticized President Trump.
Some Democrats, including Representatives Sydney Kamlager-Dove of California and Pramila Jayapal of Washington, invited victims of the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to the State of the Union as their guests in the House chamber, but did not attend themselves.
“Mr. Patel, these planes are not yours. They are the property of the U.S. Government and are paid for by the American people,” Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin and California Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove, wrote in a letter to Patel in December.
Schiff is among the Democrats boycotting the speech. Other Californians include Reps. Robert Garcia (D-Long Beach), Sara Jacobs (D-San Diego), Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Los Angeles) and Julia Brownley (D-Westlake Village).
“I’m not interested in being disrespected by [Trump],” Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove told Calen. “Since I don’t have the power to disinvite him, I can take my energy elsewhere.”
Other Democrats who've invited survivors include Reps. Mary Gay Scanlon of Pennsylvania, James Walkinshaw of Virginia and Emily Randall of Washington, and Julia Brownley, Sydney Kamlager-Dove and Eric Swalwell of California.
Kamlager-Dove is scheduled to speak at what’s been dubbed the “People’s State of the Union,” a rally on the National Mall organized by MoveOn, a national progressive group, that will take place at the same time as Trump’s address. She said it will cover “everything Donald Trump won’t talk about,” from the high costs of living and health care to “upholding democracy and our Constitution.”
"The Administration’s actions suggest a troubling pattern of sacrificing America’s national and economic security to stabilize relations with China and resolve the trade war the President himself started," write Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Sydney Kamlager-Dove, the top Democrat on the Foreign Affairs panel's South and Central Asia Subcommittee.