Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez State of the Union guest will be the community activist who confronted former Sen. Jeff Flake in a Capitol elevator during the confirmation hearing for Justice Brett Kavanaugh, according to a report from The Intercept
President Donald Trump is scheduled to appear before a joint session of the 116th Congress in the chamber of the House of Representatives to deliver the 2019 State of the Union address on Tuesday, Feb. 5.
Ana Maria Archila, one of two women who was recorded in September confronting Flake in an elevator during the confirmation process for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, told The Intercept she would not have confronted Flake “had it not been for the courage that I watched, the courage of the people that had been protesting for weeks, the courage of women who were telling their stories” in congressional offices, to their families, and on social media.
I’m proud to announce that my #StateOfTheUnion guest will be @AnaMariaArchil2.
Ana Maria is the NY14-er who famously jumped into the elevator with Sen. Flake to elevate the stories of survivors everywhere.
She‘s living proof that the courage within all of us can change the 🌎. https://t.co/OLSeNbP4Z2
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 4, 2019
“I just feel particularly moved that in her first participation in the State of the Union she is inviting me to join and inviting that moment of the elevator, my confrontation with the men who do not understand the life of women and the lives of people who are not in power, that she’s inviting that into the imagination of people again,” Archila told The Intercept.
An immigrant herself, The Intercept reports, Archila has spent the past two decades working on behalf of immigrant rights in Queens.
Members of Congress each bring a guest to the State of the Union address, and many choose to bring one who represents an issue or policy stance they prioritize. New Jersey Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman has invited Victorina Morales, an undocumented immigrant who worked on the housekeeping staff at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J., to be her guest at the SOTU address.
