1.5 Cabinet Members Not in Attendance (Designated Survivor) from 1984, and Frequency By Department (original) (raw)
Cabinet Members Who Did Not Attend the State of the Union Address ("Designated Survivor")
Starting with Reagan (1984)
| President | Date | Official | Department |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ronald Reagan | |||
| January 25, 1984 | Secretary Samuel R. Pierce Jr. | Housing and Urban Development | |
| February 6, 1985 | Secretary Malcolm Baldrige | Commerce | |
| February 4, 1986 | Secretary John Block | Agriculture | |
| January 27, 1987 | Secretary Richard Lyng | Agriculture | |
| January 25, 1988 | Secretary Donald P. Hodel | Interior | |
| George Bush | |||
| *February 9, 1989 | None | ||
| January 31, 1990 | Secretary Edward J. Derwinski | Veterans Affairs | |
| January 29, 1991 | Secretary Manuel Lujan | Interior | |
| January 28, 1992 | Secretary Ed Madigan | Agriculture | |
| William J. Clinton | |||
| *February 17, 1993 | Secretary Bruce Babbitt | Interior | |
| January 25, 1994 | Secretary Mike Epsy | Agriculture | |
| January 24, 1995 | Secretary Federico Pena | Transportation | |
| January 23, 1996 | Secretary Donna Shalala | Health and Human Services | |
| February 4, 1997 | Secretary Dan Glickman | Agriculture | |
| January 27, 1998 | Secretary Bill Daley | Commerce | |
| January 19, 1999 | Secretary Andrew M. Cuomo | Housing and Urban Development | |
| January 27, 2000 | Secretary Bill Richardson | Energy | |
| George W. Bush | |||
| *February 27, 2001 | Secretary Anthony Principi | Veterans Affairs | |
| January 29, 2002 | Secretary Gale Norton | Interior | |
| January 28, 2003 | Attorney General John Ashcroft and Secretary Norman Mineta | Justice and Transportation | |
| January 20, 2004 | Secretary Donald Evans | Commerce | |
| February 2, 2005 | Secretary Donald Evans | Commerce | |
| January 31, 2006 | Secretary Jim Nicholson | Veterans Affairs | |
| January 23, 2007 | Attorney General Alberto Gonzales | Justice | |
| January 28, 2008 | Secretary Dirk Kempthorne | Interior | |
| Barack Obama | |||
| *February 24, 2009 | Attorney General Eric Holder | Justice | |
| January 27, 2010 | Secretary Hillary Clinton andSecretary Shaun Donovan(Donovan was the "designated survivor," but Clinton is ranked higher in the presidential line of succession and would have assumed the presidency in the event of calamity.) | State & Housing and Urban Development | |
| January 25, 2011 | Secretary Ken Salazar | Interior | |
| January 24, 2012 | Secretary Tom Vilsack | Agriculture | |
| February 12, 2013 | Secretary Steven Chu | Energy | |
| January 28, 2014 | Secretary Ernest Moniz | Energy | |
| January 20, 2015 | Anthony Foxx | Transportation | |
| January 12, 2016 | Secretary Jeh Johnson | Homeland Security | |
| Donald J. Trump | |||
| February 28, 2017 | Secretary David Shulkin | Veterans Affairs | |
| January 30, 2018 | Secretary Sonny Perdue | Agriculture | |
| February 5, 2019 | Secretary Rick Perry | Energy | |
| Fenruary 4, 2020 | Secretary David Bernhardt | Interior | |
| Joseph R. Biden | |||
| April 28, 2021 | None In her April 27, 2021 press Briefing, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki stated, “There does not need to be a designated survivor because the Cabinet will be watching from their offices or home, but they will not be joining him for the speech.” Because the Secretary of State attended, Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen, next in the presidential line of succession and not in attendance, was the de facto "designated survivor". | ||
| March 1, 2022 | Secretary Gina Raimondo | Commerce | |
| February 7, 2023 | Secretary Marty Walsh | Labor | |
| March 7, 2024 | Secretary Miguel Cardona | Education |
Frequency by Department
| Department Frequency as Designated Survivor State of the Union Addresses 1984-2024 | |
|---|---|
| Department | Frequency |
| Agriculture | 6 |
| Commerce | 5 |
| Education | 1 |
| Energy | 4 |
| Health and Human Services | 1 |
| Homeland Security | 1 |
| Housing and Urban Development | 2 |
| Interior | 7 |
| Justice | 2 |
| Justice and Transportation | 1 |
| Labor | 1 |
| State & Housing and Urban Development | 1 |
| Transportation | 2 |
| Veterans Affairs | 4 |
* denotes addresses not considered official State of the Union messages
Data from 1984-2000 from Senate Historical Office.
Data from 2001-present by Gerhard Peters
Citation: Gerhard Peters. "Cabinet Members Who Did Not Attend the State of the Union Address." The American Presidency Project. Ed. John T. Woolley and Gerhard Peters. Santa Barbara, CA: University of California. 1999-2024. Available from the World Wide Web: https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/324139/.