What to Know About the Designated Survivors for the State of the Union

When President Donald Trump delivers the State of the Union address on Tuesday evening, one member of his Cabinet will not be in attendance because they will have been tapped to serve as the designated survivor. The designated survivor is an official in the presidential line of succession who is selected to skip a function that convenes the federal government in one place—the State of the Union, inaugurations, or the President’s joint congressional address, for instance. That person is then kept in a secure, undisclosed location away from the area, so that the full government would not be wiped out if a catastrophic event were to occur. The U.S. Constitution doesn’t require a designated survivor or explicitly mention the process of selecting and sequestering a designated survivor. But the practice is believed to have started during the Cold War, when the U.S. government was increasingly concerned about the possibility of a nuclear strike from the Soviet Union. Read more: A Brief History of the State of the Union’s Designated Survivor Here’s what to know about the long-standing practice, and who has been selected this year. Why is a designated survivor selected from the President’s Cabinet? The designated survivor is meant to preserve the presidential line of succession, established by the Constitution, if some kind of catastrophic incident were to occur that incapacitated the President and all the other officials in the line of succession. To that end, the designated survivor is a government official who is in the line of succession—typically, a member of the President’s Cabinet. When Trump gave his joint congressional address last March, for instance, Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins served as the designated survivor. How is the designated survivor chosen? There is no official process or protocol for how the designated survivor should be chosen. It’s believed that the President and/or the President’s Chief of Staff typically select the designated survivor. The designated survivor must be eligible, under the Constitution, to serve as President, meaning they must be a natural-born American citizen and at least 35 years of age. Why do lawmakers also pick designated survivors? Congressional leaders have also, in recent years, begun selecting lawmakers to serve as designated survivors. Some date the practice to the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001. Those designated survivors are not tapped to potentially succeed the President, but to make sure that the legislative branch could continue functioning in the event of a catastrophic incident. Who are the designated survivors for the 2026 State of the Union? The designated survivor for the President has not yet been revealed.  California Rep. Mike Thompson announced on Monday that he was chosen by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries to serve as the Democrats’ designated survivor for the State of the Union address on Tuesday. Thompson, though, said he would still be watching the address from a secure, undisclosed location. Democrats have tapped the California lawmaker to serve as a designated survivor each year since 2020, Thompson’s communications director, Lauren Ott, told The Hill.