Labor Secretary Walsh is the ‘designated survivor’ at the State of the Union address
By Maegan Vazquez and Matt Stiles, CNN
Updated 9:06 PM EST, Tue February 7, 2023

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02:25 - Source: CNN
CNN
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Labor Secretary Marty Walsh is the “designated survivor” during President Joe Biden’s second State of the Union address on Tuesday night.

The selection comes the same day CNN reported that Walsh is expected to depart the Biden administration soon – marking the first Cabinet secretary departure of Biden’s presidency.

Biden’s address is taking place in the House chamber, where he’s speaking in front of nearly every influential federal official in Washington – including members of Congress, top military brass, US Supreme Court justices and senior officials within his administration.

Walsh, a key member of Biden’s economic team, becomes the first Labor secretary in American history publicly known to have participated in the obscure ritual in order to maintain the line of presidential succession in the rare case that disaster strikes.

Last year, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo was the designated survivor for Biden’s first State of the Union address, staying away from the Capitol in an undisclosed and secure location during the president’s prime time remarks.

According to the National Constitution Center, the tradition of a designated survivor during the State of the Union speech began in the 1950s as a result of fears of a nuclear attack during the Cold War. But the federal government did not publicly name the designated survivor until 1981, when President Ronald Reagan’s Education Secretary Terrel Bell assumed the designation for an address to a joint session of Congress.

The presidential line of succession is outlined in the Presidential Succession Act of 1792, which was updated during the Truman administration in the Presidential Succession Act of 1947. The updated line of succession was spurred by President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s death in 1945, which led to Harry Truman’s assumption to the highest office.

After the vice president, the speaker of the House, the Senate president pro tempore, and the secretaries of State, Treasury and Defense are next in the line of succession. Data analyzed by CNN shows that the attorney general, seventh in the line of succession, has been the highest-ranking Cabinet member known to have been appointed to be designated survivor. A Justice Department head has been selected for the role three times. //

Who has been the ‘designated survivor’?
One member of the president's Cabinet is chosen to remain absent from the State of the Union address to ensure continuity of government in the case of a mass-casualty event. The vice president and both houses of Congress are typically in attendance, so the designee is chosen from further down the presidential line of succession. Since the 1980s, the selection has been made public.

Note: There was no designated survivor in 2021. Attendance was limited due to the Covid-19 pandemic.