WASHINGTON, D.C. (NCC News) – New York State Senator Chuck Schumer announced his guests for President Biden’s State of the Union in a press release this morning. Included in the list is former Syracuse City Common Council President Van Robinson.
Robinson who began serving on the Common Council when appointed by Mayor Matt Driscoll in 1999 became the first Black President of the Council in 2009 and served until 2017. In the press release, Brown is credited with being one of the first people to call for the removal of I-81.
“Van was one of the earliest leaders for reconnecting communities and advocating for the teardown of I-81 highway that divided communities in Syracuse, which now thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act has officially begun,” per the press release.
Schumer is also bringing Andrii Chevozorov a soldier in the Ukrainian Military who had to have his leg amputated below his knee after stepping on a mine in 2023. Schumer has been fighting to secure military aid to Ukraine.
Other New Yorkers joining Senator Schumer are Kate Farley; who is expecting a child through IVF Treatments, Kevin Farley; a Teamster from Suffolk County, Deborah Hartman; a former United Food and Commercial Workers union member, and Kim Spica, a technician for a semiconductor plant.
Governor Kathy Hochul will also be attending the speech as a guest of Representative Adriano Espaillat. Espaillat, a Democrat, represents New York’s 13th Congressional District which currently covers parts of Manhattan and The Bronx.
