New York Democrat Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said Tuesday that she will be joining a group of at least nine other Democrats who are boycotting U.S. President Donald Trump's State of the Union address Tuesday night.
Ocasio-Cortez announced her decision via Twitter hours before the president was to speak.
"After much deliberation, I have decided that I will not use my presence at a state ceremony to normalize Trump's lawless conduct & subversion of the Constitution. None of this is normal, and I will not legitimize it. Consequently, I will not be attending the State of the Union," she tweeted.
Ocasio-Cortez has been a vocal critic of the president as well as a frequent target of Trump's castigations.
Other Democratic members of Congress who are boycotting for the first time include Texas Democrat Al Green, a longtime impeachment advocate. Green said he would not attend, calling Trump "shameless, corrupt, & unapologetically bigoted" in a tweet.
Another Trump critic, California Democrat Maxine Waters, said she would not attend, calling Trump a "dishonorable president.”
Other Democrats not attending, include Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, Hank Johnson of Georgia and Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, chair of the House Committee on Homeland Security.
Rep. Earl Blumenauer of Oregon, Steve Cohen of Tennessee and Frederica Wilson of Florida also have chosen not to attend the State of the Union for a third year in a row.
Other Democrats, however, decided to attend the president's address.
Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, freshmen members of "The Squad" — four freshmen minority congresswomen, including Ocasio-Cortez and Pressley, who are frequent targets of the president's tweets — tweeted that they will attend the State of the Union.
"I am attending on behalf of all of those targeted by this President to say, 'We are greater than hate,'" Omar tweeted.
"My presence tonight is resistance. I will be in attendance to uplift the stories and work of my guests, Carly Fraser and Danielle Atkinson," Tlaib tweeted.
Trump's address will come one night before the Senate votes to remove or acquit him of impeachment charges.
