President-elect Donald Trump speaks to members of the media during a press conference at the Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, on Jan. 7, 2025. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
A majority of Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation will be in attendance for President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration today, although at least three members have decided to skip the event.
U.S. Reps. Dwight Evans (D-Philadelphia) and Summer Lee (D-Allegheny) told the Capital-Star that they will not be in attendance. The Capital-Star reached out to the entire congressional delegation and did not hear back from three members.
Lee, who was elected to Congress to represent the 12th Congressional District in 2022, was not in office during Trump’s previous inauguration. Her office did not respond to a follow-up question asking why she would not be in attendance for the inauguration.
Evans, who is currently serving his fifth term in Congress, also did not attend Trump’s inauguration in 2017. He told CBS Philadelphia in 2017 the reason he didn’t attend included the incoming president’s positions on multiple issues including health care and his comments on former Congressman John Lewis, a civil rights leader, who Trump called “all talk” and “no action,” after Lewis said he was not a “legitimate president.”
Evans suffered a stroke in May and missed votes for several months as he recovered, but was sworn in to serve his current term on Jan. 3. His office did not respond to a follow-up question asking why he would not be in attendance.
U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Philadelphia) did not respond to a request for comment from the Capital-Star, however, POLITICO reports that he will not be in attendance, telling them that he is “hoping to be at the National Championship game in Atlanta, where my alma mater, Notre Dame, is playing.”
This is not the first time that multiple members of the state’s congressional delegation decided to skip Trump’s inauguration. According to POLITICO, in addition to Evans and Boyle, then-U.S. Reps. Bob Brady (D-Philadelphia) and Mike Doyle (D-Allegheny) skipped Trump’s inauguration in 2017. In total, at least 63 Democrats were absent from Trump’s inauguration in 2017, according to POLITICO, although reports indicate there will be fewer who decide to sit it out on Monday for Trump’s second inauguration.
Brady and Doyle have both retired, although Boyle and Evans still represent Philadelphia in Congress and are the only Democratic members of the state’s congressional delegation who were members at the beginning of Trump’s first term in 2017.
In 2017, Boyle issued a statement saying he did not “challenge” that Trump won the Electoral College and he accepted the “decision of the people,” adding that he respected it “but I will not celebrate it.” He also criticized Trump for a number of reasons, including his comments on Lewis.
U.S. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Delaware) also did not say if she was attending the inauguration.
U.S. Reps. Madeleine Dean (D-Montgomery), Chris Deluzio (D-Allegheny) and Chrissy Houlahan (D-Chester) said they would be in attendance for the ceremony.
Even though some Democrats won’t be in attendance for Trump’s inauguration, all of them voted to certify the election results on Jan. 6.
In 2021, at least six congressional Republicans did not attend President Joe Biden’s swearing-in, per Newsweek. None appeared to be members of Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation, although eight of the nine Republican members from the state at that time did not vote to certify the election results. Trump himself, of course, was also absent, baselessly insisting the 2020 election was stolen from him. It was the first time in 150 years that an outgoing president skipped his successor’s inauguration “for reasons other than ill health,” per James Lindsay, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.
U.S. GOP Reps. Rob Bresnahan (R-Luzerne), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Bucks), John Joyce (R-Blair), Mike Kelly (R-Butler), Ryan Mackenzie (R-Lehigh), Dan Meuser (R-Luzerne), Guy Reschenthaler (R-Washington), Lloyd Smucker (R-Lancaster), and Glenn ‘GT’ Thompson (R-Centre) confirmed they will be in attendance for the swearing in ceremony. U.S. Rep. Scott Perry (R-York), a close Trump ally, did not respond to a request for comment about his attendance.
Elizabeth Goldsmith, a professor emerita at Florida State University who has studied inaugural traditions, said while members of Congress are invited to the inauguration and the accompanying luncheon, it’s “fairly common” for some to stay away.
“There are other obligations in how they feel about things,” Goldsmith said. She’ll be watching in particular for where some of Trump’s biggest supporters from the tech and business world, such as Elon Musk, are seated.
“The point I would make is not just being there, but also proximity. How close are you standing or sitting with the new president? So that’s a big deal,” she said.
Trump’s inauguration will be in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda due to the cold weather. This will be the first inauguration taken place indoors due to the conditions outside since President Ronald Reagan’s second inauguration in 1985.
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