D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty declined a White House invitation to attend the State of the Union address Tuesday, instead choosing to come as a guest of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., according to The Washington Post.
Fenty sat in the House gallery among other guests invited by Pelosi. Had he accepted the White House's invitation, Fenty would have sat next to first lady Laura Bush. Fenty's predecessor, Anthony Williams, accepted a similar invitation and sat next to the first lady during his time in office, according to The Post.
Carrie Brooks, Fenty's spokeswoman, said Fenty accepted Pelosi's invitation because it was the first to come. However, Fenty made a pledge during his campaign for mayor last year that he would not attend the State of the Union address as a guest of the White House because President Bush had not supported the District's efforts to gain voting representation in Congress, according to The Post.