State of the Union 2023: New Illinois congresswoman tapped to give Working Families Party response

CHICAGO (WLS) -- She's only been a member of Congress for a month, yet U.S. Rep. Delia Ramirez has been tapped by the progressive Working Families Party to deliver a response to President Biden's State of Union address.

"I've been extremely nervous, but also feeling indescribable gratitude," Ramirez said. "They could have chosen a lot of people."

Ramirez was just elected to Illinois' new 3rd Congressional District, which includes portions of Chicago and the western suburbs.

"When you are featured as part of the State of the Union address, that is a big deal," ABC7 political analyst Laura Washington said. "She will get a lot of national attention. She'll been seen as a political player."

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For the past couple State of the Union addresses, the grassroots Working Families party has been giving a response. While Ramirez's speech will follow the Republican response, she says her address is not a rebuttal to the president's speech, but to talk about additional issues that affect working people.

"What I'm going to be doing is encouraging the party and the president, my president, to go for further and do more for people in the next two years," Ramirez said.

With the national spotlight on her, Ramirez could be considered a rising Latino star in the progressive wing of the Democratic Party - a position held by New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, known as AOC.

"I suspect she is just as far left as AOC is, but she doesn't come across in an extreme way," Washington said. "She's not going to be seen as an extremist."

Ramirez says she is a progressive with lived experiences: she's proud to be the only member of Congress married to a DACA recipient and her personal story of being a daughter of Guatemalan immigrants is likely to resonate with Latino voters, a key swing vote in the next presidential election.

"I'm the daughter of immigrants and a woman who crossed the border in her first trimester and almost died drowning in the Rio Grande," Ramirez said, "and she did everything possible so her daughter would have a life different than hers."

In her speech, Ramirez said she will be talking about concrete proposals the president can get done with executive action. She'll touch on issues like immigration reform and the right to housing.