President Joe Biden is scheduled to deliver his first State of the Union address on Tuesday, Mar. 1. That’s later than usual… and not the only unexpected part of the tradition.
GOP leaders in Congress announced their plans for the address response. And to lead, they tapped a surprising figure.
They tasked the response to Gov. Kim Reynolds of Iowa.
Oftentimes, the party opposing the president will look outside Washington, D.C., ahead of midterm elections. The GOP’s leaders are following this trend.
In a statement, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., lambasted the “disastrous decision-making in Washington,” and he credited Republican governors with offsetting the worst failures of the Biden administration.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., echoed this sentiment in his joint statement with McCarthy.
“The President and his team should take notes,” McConnell said in his joint statement with McCarthy.
He also praised Reynolds for fighting COVID-19 “without forgetting common sense.”
Republican officials have criticized some rules designed to prevent the spread of COVID-19. For example, they have opposed state requirements for workers to get a vaccine, due to concerns about violating individual Americans’ civil liberties. Recently, some Democrats have agreed to ease the restrictions, and 95 percent of schools remained open as of last month.
In March 2020, Reynolds closed non-essential business and issued a state of emergency. On the other hand, she earned national attention in November 2020 as one of the earlier governors to relax mask rules. She became a controversial figure, facing both praise from McConnell and criticism from the Trump administration’s White House Coronavirus Task Force.
Needless school closures. Unscientific child mask mandates. A woke war against merit-based schools and standards.
The far left even opposes basic K-12 transparency. They want parents sidelined and silenced.
Republicans stand with families. The party of parents has your back.
— Leader McConnell (@LeaderMcConnell) February 16, 2022
Reynolds has served as governor since May 2017. Previously, she was working as lieutenant governor, until the previous governor left office to join the Trump administration.
The following year, Reynolds was narrowly elected to her first full term as governor, and she became the state’s first gubernatorial candidate since 1998 to win an election from the party of the incumbent president. She has also served as a county treasurer and a state senator.
Reynolds is running for reelection this year.
In the meantime, she has expressed optimism about the opportunity to deliver an address response.
“The Biden Administration is governing from the far-left, ignoring the problems of working-class Americans while pushing an agenda that stifles free speech, free thought, and economic freedom,” Reynolds said in a statement obtained by The Hill.
“The American people have had enough, but there is an alternative and that’s what I look forward to sharing on Tuesday evening.”
Tuesday March 1st, 2022, I will deliver the official Republican Address to the nation following Biden’s SOTU Address. pic.twitter.com/hbhWsAjgrG
— Kim Reynolds (@KimReynoldsIA) February 22, 2022
The Horn News and The Associated Press contributed to this article.