President Donald Trump could have been describing two different countries in Tuesday’s State of the Union address — one entering a “Golden Age” and the other enduring daily stress under a “lawless” regime — at least as far as the Republican and Democratic members of Colorado’s congressional delegation were concerned.

In interviews and a steady stream of social media posts, the state’s lawmakers split sharply along partisan lines, both before the nearly two-hour speech and as Trump spoke from the dais inside the House of Representatives.

The state’s four Republican House members cheered as Trump listed his administration’s accomplishments and laid out his agenda, while the delegation’s six Democrats turned thumbs down on claims they denounced as false and divisive.

The address, U.S. Rep. Gabe Evans said in a statement, comes at a time the Fort Lupton Republican called a “pivotal moment for our country.”

“In just over a year Republicans in Congress, alongside President Donald Trump, have taken decisive action to restore strength, security, and affordability for American families — and the results are impossible to ignore,” Evans said.

“The State of the Union is STRONG!” Republican U.S. Rep. Jeff Crank of Colorado Springs, posted to X moments after Trump began speaking.

Making the same point with some elaboration, U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, a Windsor Republican, tweeted: “Thanks to President Trump, our border is secure, energy production is booming, and America is safe.”

U.S. Rep. Jeff Hurd, the Grand Junction Republican who lost Trump’s endorsement over differences on tariff policy, said in a social media post as he entered the House chamber that the address was a “chance to reflect on that progress and focus on the work still ahead.”

“Over the past year,” Hurd said, “we’ve worked to restore fiscal discipline, strengthen American energy production, secure the border, and support families and small businesses.”

Across the aisle, Colorado Democrats derided Trump’s message.

U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper predicted ahead of the speech that Trump would “tell us not to believe what we can see with our own eyes.”


In a post on X, Hickenlooper said, “His ICE agents are running lawless through our streets. Life is unaffordable and his tariffs stole from families and small businesses. We all can see it, no matter how they spin it.”

U.S. Rep. Jason Crow of Aurora, one of the Democrats the Department of Justice unsuccessfully tried to indict for making a video telling troops that they didn’t have to follow illegal orders, sat with others who appeared in the video on the House floor.

“The President tried to imprison us. But he failed,” Crow said in a post on X that pictured him with his fellow lawmakers. “Instead, we’ll be in the People’s House — staring right at him and holding him accountable.”

The one Democrat from the state’s delegation who didn’t attend the speech, U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette of Denver, said on X that she decided not to “legitimize his egregious actions by attending his address.”

“Donald Trump demeans our Constitution, courts, and respected public institutions almost every day,” said DeGette, who also skipped the address Trump delivered a year ago to a joint session of Congress.

Boebert expressed the opposite view in a post on X as Trump finished speaking.

“The Golden Age of America is upon us! The best is yet to come!” she said. “THANK YOU PRESIDENT TRUMP!”

After Trump concluded the speech — at 1 hour, 47 minutes, it set a record for the longest State of the Union address in history — Crank told Colorado Politics that he thought Trump hit it out of the park.

“I really did think that he did a better job than I’ve probably ever seen in a State of the Union, and that’s thinking back through all of the ones that I’ve watched in my life, of storytelling, of telling America’s story, through these heroes that we saw, and that’s a good thing. That’s a unifying thing,” said Crank, speaking from the rotunda outside House chambers.

Crank said he was glad to see Democrats break into applause at points during the speech, like when Trump introduced the Olympic gold-medal-winning U.S. men’s hockey team and veterans from World II and the Korean War, who drew bipartisan ovations.

“There were several things that were accepted by both sides,” Crank said, “although, of course, this is Washington, DC, it’s a divided town many ways, and that certainly was the case for much of the speech.”

Democrats took issue throughout the speech with Trump’s policy statements, including when he declared that he “will make peace where I can.”

While Boebert lauded the message — posting “President Trump is the President of PEACE!” on X — Democratic U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet responded with skepticism.

“In one year, President Trump has ordered military action against seven countries and deployed federal troops to American cities without Congressional approval,” Bennet said on X.

“He has undermined NATO, the most successful alliance in history and alienated key U.S. allies with his tariffs,” Bennet continued. “For all his promises of peace, Trump has left America more isolated and the world more dangerous.”

U.S. Rep. Brittany Pettersen, a Lakewood Democrat, said after the speech that Trump had painted a picture at odds with what she said are Colorado families “struggling to make ends meet with the rising cost of groceries, housing and health care.”

“Instead of delivering a clear and positive message that unites our country, Donald Trump doubled down on his anti-immigrant agenda and espoused more lies and hateful rhetoric,” she said in an emailed statement. “He is unhinged and unwell. How much worse does it have to get before more people are willing to stand up for the rule of law and for our country?” 

Crow told Colorado Politics in an interview before the president’s speech that he anticipated Trump would deliver the same kind of message he has seen before, in the final two State of the Union addresses of Trump’s first term and in last year’s joint address to Congress.

“The man uses the opportunity to divide, to attack, to malign his perceived political enemies, to double down on his policies,” Crow said. “His is a failing presidency with rock-bottom approval ratings with an American public that’s suffering under crushing costs. He continues to become more erratic and unstable, using our military and irresponsible ways, and has bombed seven different countries in his first year alone.”