In the run-up to the inauguration of Donald Trump as America’s 45th president, more than 40 Congressional Democrats have said that they will not attend the ceremony on Friday.
While many said earlier that they did not plan to attend the inauguration, more legislators joined the list after a dust-up this weekend between Trump and Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.).
Lewis said in an interview last week that he did not plan to attend the inauguration because he did not see Trump’s victory in November as “legitimate” due to “interference by the Russian government.”
Trump countered on Twitter saying Lewis was "all talk" and "no action," and that the metro Atlanta-area district he represents is "crime-infested."
Lewis came to prominence during the civil rights era when he marched with Martin Luther King Jr. Lewis was among the protesters in the Selma to Montgomery march in 1965 who was beaten by Alabama State Troopers when they clashed at the Edmund Pettis Bridge near Selma.
Lewis also boycotted the inauguration of George W. Bush in 2001. He told The Washington Post then that it would be “hypocritical to attend Bush's swearing-in because he doesn't believe Bush is the true elected president."
According to inauguration organizers and District of Columbia officials, more than 800,000 people are expected to be in Washington for Friday’s ceremony.
Here is a current list of legislators who have confirmed they will not be there.
• Rep. Alma Adams (D-N.C.)
• Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Calif.)
• Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.)
• Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.)
• Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.)
• Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.)
• Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.)
• Rep. Robert Brady (D-Pa.)
• Rep. Anthony Brown (D-Md.)
• Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.)
• Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas)
• Rep. Tony Cardenas (D-Calif.)
• Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.)
• Rep. Katherine M. Clark (D-Mass.)
• Rep. Yvette D. Clarke (D-N.Y.)
• Rep. William Lacy Clay (D-Mo.)
• Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.)
• Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.)
• Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich)
• Rep. Peter A. DeFazio (D-Ore.)
• Rep. Mark DeSaulnier (D-Calif.)
• Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas)
• Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.)
• Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.)
• Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.)
• Rep. Dwight Evans (D-Pa.)
• Rep. Marcia L. Fudge (D-Ohio)
• Rep. Al Green (D-Texas)
• Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.)
• Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.)
• Rep. Luis V. Gutiérrez (D-Ill.)
• Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.)
• Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.)
• Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.)
• Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.)
• Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.)
• Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.)
• Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.)
• Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.)
• Rep. Alan Lowenthal (D-Calif.)
• Rep. A. Donald McEachin (D-Va.)
• Rep. Jerry McNerney (D-Calif.)
• Rep. Grace Meng (D-N.Y.)
• Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.)
• Rep. Grace Napolitano (D-Calif.)
• Rep. Donald Payne Jr. (D-N.J.)
• Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine)
• Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.)
• Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.)
• Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Calif.)
• Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-Calif.)
• Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) (due to wife’s hospitalization)
• Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.)
• Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-Ore.)
• Rep. José E. Serrano (D-N.Y.)
• Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D-N.H.)
• Rep. Louise M. Slaughter (D-N.Y.)
• Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.)
• Rep. Terri A. Sewell (D-Ala.)
• Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.)
• Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.)
• Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-N.Y.)
• Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Kty.)
• Rep. Darren Soto (D-Fla.)
• Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.)
• Rep. Nydia M. Velázquez (D-N.Y.)
• Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.)
• Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.)
• Rep. Frederica S. Wilson (D-Fla.)
• Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Kty.)
Here are some others who have announced they would be skipping the ceremony.
• Former President George H.W. Bush, (he is hospitalized in Texas)
• Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush
• Washington Gov. Jay Inslee
• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
• Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner
• Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
Here are some others who have announced they will attend the ceremony.
• Former President George W. Bush
• Former First Lady Laura Bush
• Former President Jimmy Carter
• Anson Chan, Hong Kong’s former chief secretary
• Former President Bill Clinton
• Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton
• Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York
• Former United Kingdom Independence Party leader Nigel Farage
• The Rev. Franklin Graham, president of Samaritan’s Purse and son of Billy Graham
• Rabbi Marvin Hier, the leader of the Simon Wiesenthal Center
• Ohio Gov. John Kasich
• Sergey Kislyak, Russian ambassador to the United States
• Rep. Stephen F. Lynch, (D-Mass.)
• New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez
• Sen. Ed Markey, (D-Mass.)
• Rep. Jim McGovern, (D-Mass.)
• Rep. Seth Moulton, (D-Mass.)
• The Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference
• Bishop Wayne T. Jackson, the leader of Great Faith Ministries International in Detroit
• Sen. Elizabeth Warren, (D-Mass.)
• Paula White, a televangelist
Sources: The Washington Post; The Associated Press; The New York Times; Twitter; USA Today
Cox Media Group
