President Trump posed a simple question Tuesday night. He asked every member of Congress to stand if they agreed that the first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens.
Every Republican stood. Not a single Democrat did.
Colorado’s four Republican representatives — Lauren Boebert, Jeff Crank, Jeff Hurd, and Gabe Evans — stood with the rest of their caucus. The state’s five Democrats in the chamber — Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper, and Representatives Joe Neguse, Jason Crow, and Brittany Pettersen — stayed in their seats. Rep. Diana DeGette wasn’t there at all. She boycotted the speech for the second straight year.
The question wasn’t about deportation policy. It wasn’t about ICE tactics or funding levels. It was a foundational statement about who the federal government exists to serve.
Democrats had their reasons ready. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries instructed members before the speech to either sit in “silent defiance” or skip the address entirely. The Colorado Democrats who attended followed those instructions.
That raises its own question. Colorado’s Democratic members of Congress were elected to represent the people of their districts and their state. When the President of the United States asked them to affirm that the American government’s first obligation is to American citizens, they looked to their party leader in Washington for permission — and he said no.
Bennet posted on X afterward about NATO and tariffs. Pettersen issued a statement about grocery prices and housing costs. Crow said Coloradans are worse off under Trump’s policies. None addressed why they wouldn’t stand for a statement that the government’s first duty is to its own citizens.
The voters in Colorado’s 2nd, 6th, and 7th congressional districts, and across the state that elected Bennet and Hickenlooper, deserve an answer to the question their representatives refused to stand for — and an explanation of who they actually represent.
President Trump just handed every candidate running against those Democrats a very strong campaign strategy. The footage of their representatives refusing to stand for American citizens will be hard to explain on the campaign trail.
Sources: Full transcript of the 2026 State of the Union address (PBS News); Colorado Politics, Feb. 25, 2026; CPR News/Colorado Capitol News Alliance, Feb. 25, 2026; Fox News, Feb. 25, 2026.
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