The message might be different, but the color was once again white for some Democratic women in the House on Tuesday night.
Nearly a decade after they first wore white to President’s Trump address to a joint session of Congress in 2017, a clutch of Democratic congresswomen donned the same color for the president’s State of the Union address, while dozens of other Democrats boycotted the event.
In 2017, the choice of white was made to support women’s rights, an echo of suffragists. This time around, it was meant, in part, to signal opposition to the SAVE America Act, a strict voter identification bill that would mandate proof of citizenship from people when they register to vote.
Critics of the bill, which has passed the Republican-led House, say such a law could disenfranchise millions of voters, including women whose married names don’t match their passports or birth certificates.
The president asked Congress to pass the bill on Tuesday night during his speech, calling it “country-saving,” and saying legislators should take it up “before anything else happens” and accusing Democrats of “wanting to cheat.”
Other colors have also been seen at State of the Union addresses during Trump’s two presidencies; in 2018, some female lawmakers wore black to signal solidarity with the #MeToo movement. A year later, it was back to white in the wake of a record number of women — including many Democrats — being elected to Congress. Last year, about three dozen members of the Democratic Women’s Caucus wore pink to a joint session of Congress, in various shades and sizes.
The white duds on Tuesday were not the only form of protest to the president’s speech: Dozens of Democratic lawmakers declined to attend the address, with some attending alternative rallies.
“I’m not going to show up,” said Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut, of the president’s address, “and pretend everything’s normal.”
Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the former speaker of the House, helped popularize the white pantsuit, wearing the color to major occasions during her tenure as the leader of that chamber, including at the 2020 State of the Union, where Ms. Pelosi famously ripped up a copy of President Trump’s speech after he finished speaking. Many other Democratic congresswomen also wore white that night, in honor of the 100th anniversary of suffrage, replicating the color favored by leaders and supporters of that movement.
In 2024, during the Biden administration, congresswomen also wore white to signal support for women’s reproductive rights.
Richard T. Ford, the author of “Dress Codes: How the Laws of Fashion Made History,” said that “although it’s always useful to make any collective show of opposition,” such symbolism can become “less effective when used repeatedly.”
“Unless,” he added, “it is meant to convey the same objection.”
That same objection, of course, could be to the president himself, who has a long and well-documented history of disparaging remarks toward women.
The chair of the Democratic Women’s Caucus, Representative Teresa Leger Fernández, a New Mexico Democrat, told CBS News that the color choice for the State of the Union address “depends on where we’re at in the moment.”
On Tuesday, however, Ms. Fernández — who wore white to an event for survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse — didn’t attend to see the display from her caucus at the president’s address. She, like many other Democrats, said she’d be skipping it altogether.
Jesse McKinley is a Times reporter covering politics, pop culture, lifestyle and the confluence of all three.
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