GOP Picks Familiar Face to Rebut Biden Address

New Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders gets the nod
By Bob Cronin,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 2, 2023 2:42 PM CST
GOP Picks Sanders to Rebut Biden Address
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders speaks after taking the oath of the office on the steps of the Arkansas Capitol Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2023, in Little Rock, Ark.   (AP Photo/Will Newton)

Republicans have chosen a Donald Trump supporter who won in November to give the party's rebuttal to President Biden's State of the Union address. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell announced that the honor will go to Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, 40, her state's youngest governor ever and the first woman to hold the job. McCarthy urged Biden especially to watch her speech Tuesday night, USA Today reports.

Sanders said in a statement that she's grateful for the chance to "contrast the GOP's optimistic vision for the future against the failures of President Biden and the Democrats," per NBC News. She was White House press secretary until leaving in 2019 and was encouraged by Trump to run for governor. McConnell is among those Republicans who attributed some of the blame for the poor showing in the November elections by GOP candidates around the country, especially those Trump endorsed, to the former president. (More State of the Union address stories.)

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