Stacy Garrity will be a guest at Trump’s SOTU address. Here’s who else from Pa. will (and won’t) be there.

Pennsylvania Republican gubernatorial candidate and state Treasurer Stacy Garrity will be among the guests filling the U.S. House’s gallery Tuesday when President Donald Trump delivers the first State of the Union address of his second term.

Her presence at the primetime speech underlines her alignment with Trump on the national stage as she pursues her challenge against popular Democratic incumbent Gov. Josh Shapiro, widely seen as a potential contender for the White House in 2028.

A campaign spokesperson said Garrity will attend the address in her official capacity as state treasurer rather than as a candidate, but the Republican lawmaker bringing her to the event specifically cited her campaign for governor when he announced her as his guest.

“I am pleased to announce that the next governor of Pennsylvania Stacy Garrity will be my guest at the coming State of the Union,” U.S. Rep. Glenn ‘GT’ Thompson (R., Centre) said earlier this month at a gathering of Pennsylvania Republicans in Harrisburg.

Steven Chizmar, a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Treasury Department, said Garrity is in Washington for the National Association of State Treasurers and that her attendance at the speech will take place part of this previously scheduled trip.

“This opportunity will allow her to gain valuable insights into national issues that could impact Pennsylvanians and the services provided by the Pennsylvania Treasury Department,” Chizmar said. “Attending the State of the Union is an honor rooted in more than two centuries of American tradition and Stacy Garrity is proud to be able to attend the President’s Address.”

Garrity’s trip to Washington comes just days after Shapiro was among the Democratic governors to meet with Trump at the White House for the National Governors Association’s annual conference — though he skipped the black-tie dinner after Trump’s attacks on colleagues.

Garrity is a longtime Trump supporter who has voiced support for Pennsylvanians to cooperate with ICE agents and previously claimed Trump won the 2020 election.

Trump endorsed Garrity at the end of January, saying “Stacy is a true America First Patriot, who has been with me from the beginning.”

Garrity was reelected as treasurer during the 2024 red wave in Pennsylvania when all state row offices were won by Republicans, as Trump carried Pennsylvania with more votes than any statewide Republican candidate in history .

But now a little over a year into his second term, Trump’s approval rating is sinking. According to a new Washington Post-ABC-Ipsos poll, 60% of Americans said they disapprove of how Trump is handling the presidency. This is a potential liability for Garrity and other Pennsylvania Republicans on the ballot this year.

The Pennsylvania Democratic Party seized on Garrity’s planned appearance at the State of the Union. Party Chair Eugene DePasquale said during a news briefing Monday that Garrity will be “cheerleading” Trump’s “damaging” policies and specifically tied Garrity to rising health care costs.

Health care costs will likely be a key point of Democratic messaging against Trump Tuesday night, following a national spike in insurance premiums when enhanced tax credits for the Affordable Care Act expired at the start of the year.

U.S. Rep. Madeleine Dean (D., Montgomery) will be bringing Lisa Boone Bogacki, a physical therapist and affordable health care advocate from Berks County. Bogacki‘s husband, Gary, died from a sudden cardiac event in 2009 and Bogacki’s family came to rely on the Affordable Care Act and Social Security survivor benefits.

“Prior to the ACA, I paid over $20,000 annually for insurance coverage, and this was where the majority of the kids’ survivor’s benefits was spent,” Bogacki said in a news release from Dean’s office. “The ACA finally made insurance premiums affordable for us. This year, my premiums have drastically increased, following the new cuts made to the program.”

Addressing another contentious issue, Trump’s immigration agenda, U.S. Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D., Del.) plans to bring Maria Mesias-Tatnall, director of outreach and immigration assistance at the Delaware Department of Justice.

But some Democrats are choosing to express their disapproval in other ways.

U.S. Rep. Summer Lee (D., Pittsburgh) will boycott Trump’s speech and attend the progressive-led “People’s State of the Union” in Washington, D.C. instead, her office said.

She will also deliver the Working Families Party’s response to Trump, according to the progressive organization.

U.S. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D., Delaware) will also go to the alternative event, according to MeidasTouch and MoveOn, two progressive groups which are organizing the “People’s State of the Union.” Her office did not immediately comment on the decision.

Meanwhile, some Republican lawmakers from the region are highlighting students and teachers.

U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie (R., Lehigh) will be bringing Sarah Arndt, the lead teacher at PathStone Carbon County Head Start, where she has worked for the past 13 years. Funding for her program was in jeopardy last fall amid the lengthy government shutdown and state budget impasse.

And Sheryl Klein, a senior at Council Rock High School South in Bucks County, will be the guest of U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R., Bucks). Klein founded and leads the high school’s Women’s Empowerment Club.

“That is the kind of civic engagement we should be encouraging across this country at every level: unifying, positive, and rooted in service to something greater than ourselves,” Fitzpatrick said.

Fitzpatrick and Mackenzie represent key swing districts, which both parties are targeting in the fall.