Who is Katie Britt, the Republican set to deliver response to Biden’s State of the Union address?
The Alabama politician is the youngest Republican woman to serve in the US Senate
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Your support makes all the difference.The youngest Republican woman to serve in the US Senate will deliver the response to President Biden’s State of the Union address on Thursday night.
Alabama Senator Katie Britt is set to give the remarks – a rebuttal speech to the president’s address made by the opposing party – on 7 March, which she has promised will be a “candid discussion about the future of our nation”.
At 42 years old, Ms Britt is the youngest Republican woman to ever serve in the US Senate, and the second youngest ever, following Democratic Senator Blanche Lincoln, who was elected in 1999 at the age of 38.
Her journey to Congress began in June 2021 when she announced her candidacy for the 2022 Senate election in Alabama – having never previously run for public office.
Ms Britt publicly aligned herself with Donald Trump, though despite alleging there may have been “fraud” during the 2020 election, has never claimed that it was “stolen”, as the former president has done consistently since he left office.
Mr Trump officially endorsed Britt on 10 June 2022, calling her a "fearless America First warrior," and she won the general election on 8 November.
Ms Britt took office as a representative of Alabama’s 118th district on 3 January 2023, making her the first woman elected a US senator from the state.
According to her website, she is an advocate of growing “good-paying jobs and opportunity for all Alabamians while standing up for small and rural businesses” as well as a strong belief “that no child’s zip code should determine their opportunity in life”.
A practising attorney, Ms Britt graduated from the University of Alabama and the University of Alabama School of Law. She previously served as the chief of staff to Alabama’s then-senior US Senator and has served on numerous boards and committees.
Following the announcement of her address, she wrote on X: “I am truly honored and grateful for the opportunity to speak directly to my fellow Americans on March 7.
“We’ll have a candid conversation about the future of our nation—and I’ll outline the Republican vision to secure the American Dream for generations to come.”
The practice of providing a response to the State of the Union address began in 1966 when Republican Senator Everett Dirksen and Representative Gerald Ford offered a televised response to the address by Democratic president Lyndon Johnson
Four presidents have given both a State of the Union address and an opposition response, including Ford, George W Bush, Bill Clinton, and Joe Biden.
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