WASHINGTON — Should the unthinkable happen during President Trump’s State of the Union address Tuesday evening, the House of Representatives will have designated survivors stashed away in a secure location to guarantee continuity of Congress.
Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) has been tapped to watch Trump’s marquee address from a safe distance as a contingency plan, according to the lawmaker from northern California’s wine country.
“I’ve been selected as a designated survivor for tomorrow’s State of the Union, so I won’t be there in person, but I’ll be watching,” Thompson posted on X Monday.
“Americans deserve accountability for the militarization of ICE, terrorization of our communities and killing of American citizens.”
Unlike the much more well-known White House designated survivor, whose identity is revealed after the president’s speech begins, Thompson isn’t in the executive line of succession and would not be tipped to become commander in chief in the event of a catastrophe.
The practice of designated congresional survivors — two senators and two House members, one from each party — in the event of an attempt to decapitate the US government during a major event has taken place since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
However, the tradition is so little known that multiple Capitol Hill staffers, including experienced ones, weren’t even aware of its existence when contacted by The Post Tuesday.
Thompson’s guest, immigrant and veteran Bernie Narvaez, is still expected to attend the speech — while dozens of Democrats in both chambers of Congress besides Thompson will not.
It was not immediately clear which other lawmakers had been tapped as designated survivors, though preference is given to experienced members who are familiar with parliamentary rules and procedures should Congress need to be reconstituted after a catastrophe.
Thompson, 75, was first elected to the House in 1998 after eight years in the California State Senate.
Since the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, the seat of the legislative branch has been protected by a steel-grated 12-foot-tall fence during State of the Union speeches and identical, but differently named, addresses to the joint session of Congress.
The designated survivor tradition began at the height of the Cold War in the mid-1950s.
Last year, VA Secretary Doug Collins was told to keep away from the Capitol for Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress.
Since 1984, the Secretary of the Interior has been deemed the designated survivor seven times, according to The American Presidency Project, followed by the secretaries of Agriculture (six) and Commerce and Veterans Affairs (five each).
