Editing State of the Union (section)

==Opposition response==
{{Main|Response to the State of the Union address}}

Since 1966,<ref name="res">{{cite web |author=Office of the Clerk |title=Opposition Responses to State of the Union Messages (1966–present) |url=http://clerk.house.gov/art_history/art_artifacts/stateunion.html |publisher=United States House of Representatives |access-date=January 23, 2007 |archive-date=January 31, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070131204156/http://clerk.house.gov/art_history/art_artifacts/stateunion.html |url-status=live}}</ref> the speech has been followed on television by a response or rebuttal by a member of the major political party opposing the president's party. The response is typically broadcast from a studio with no audience. In 1970, the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] put together a TV program with their speech to reply to President [[Richard Nixon|Nixon]], as well as a televised response to Nixon's written speech in 1973.<ref name="'70s 47">{{cite book |title=How We Got Here: The '70s |last=Frum |first=David |author-link=David Frum |year=2000 |publisher=Basic Books |location=New York |isbn=0-465-04195-7 |page=[https://archive.org/details/howwegothere70sd00frum/page/47 47] |url=https://archive.org/details/howwegothere70sd00frum/page/47 |url-access=registration}}</ref> The same was done by Democrats for President Reagan's speeches in 1982 and 1985. The response is not always produced in a studio; in 1997, the Republicans for the first time delivered the response in front of high school students.<ref name="jcwatts">{{cite news |first=Richard E. Jr. |last=Sincere |work=Metro Herald |date=February 1997 |title=O.J., J.C., and Bill: Reflections on the State of the Union |url=http://www.arg-media.com/articles/domestic/dom43.htm |access-date=January 23, 2007 |quote=Watts told his audience—about 100 high school students from the CloseUp Foundation watched in person, while a smaller number watched on television at home—that he is 'old enough to remember the Jim Crow' laws that affected him and his family while he grew up in a black neighborhood in small-town Oklahoma. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020731143540/http://www.arg-media.com/articles/domestic/dom43.htm |archive-date=July 31, 2002}}</ref> In 2010, [[Governor of Virginia|Virginia governor]] [[Bob McDonnell]] gave the Republican response from the [[Virginia House of Delegates|House of Delegates]] chamber of the [[Virginia State Capitol]] in [[Richmond, Virginia|Richmond]], in front of about 250 attendees.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/27/AR2010012704953.html|title=Virginia Gov. McDonnell gives Republican Party response to State of the Union|last=Kumar|first=Anita|date=January 28, 2010|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=January 17, 2019|archive-date=January 25, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125121629/https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/27/AR2010012704953.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2004, the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]]'s response was delivered in [[Spanish language|Spanish]] for the first time, by [[Governor of New Mexico|New Mexico governor]] [[Bill Richardson (politician)|Bill Richardson]].<ref name="spa04">{{cite news |first=Byron |last=York |title=The Democratic Response You Didn't See |date=January 21, 2004 |url=http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/209216/democratic-response-you-didn-146-t-see |work=National Review |access-date=January 23, 2007 |quote=And then there was the Spanish-language response—the first ever—delivered by New Mexico governor, and former Clinton energy secretary, Bill Richardson. |archive-date=February 9, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200209183253/https://www.nationalreview.com/articles/209216/democratic-response-you-didn-146-t-see |url-status=live}}</ref> In 2011, [[Minnesota]] Congresswoman [[Michele Bachmann]] also gave a televised response for the [[Tea Party Express]], a first for a political movement.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/26/AR2011012603412.html |title=Michele Bachmann offers Tea Party response to President Obama's State of the Union Address |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=January 26, 2011 |access-date=January 15, 2015 |archive-date=January 25, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125191642/https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/26/AR2011012603412.html |url-status=live}}</ref> In 2024, the Republican response was delivered by Senator [[Katie Britt]] on March 8 (Women's International Day) from her kitchen table. The first Independent response was delivered by [[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]]<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 11, 2024 |title=Robert F. Kennedy Jr. "State Of The Union" Address: 80% Of Americans Don't Want To Choose Between The Lesser Of Two Evils |first=Tim|last=Hains|url=https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2024/03/11/robert_f_kennedy_jr_state_of_the_union_address_80_of_americans_dont_want_to_choose_between_the_lesser_of_two_evils.html |access-date=March 11, 2024 |website=RealClear Politics |language=en |archive-date=September 9, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240909131420/https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2024/03/11/robert_f_kennedy_jr_state_of_the_union_address_80_of_americans_dont_want_to_choose_between_the_lesser_of_two_evils.html |url-status=live}}</ref>