Phoenix Rep. Yassamin Ansari says she’s skipping Trump’s inauguration

Donald Trump will be sworn in as president on Monday. Democratic Rep. Yassamin Ansari has other places to be.

An estimated 250,000 people will be on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. on Monday as Trump officially retakes the White House, according to Reuters. Ansari won’t be one of them, with the freshman representative announcing Thursday that she’ll skip out on Trump’s second inauguration to attend Martin Luther King Day events in Arizona instead.

“Third District families sent me to D.C. to work for them — that’s why I’ll be in my community this weekend, meeting with Arizonans and volunteering alongside the folks I represent,” Ansari said in a statement. “I fully support a peaceful transition of power and look forward to finding ways to reach across the aisle and work with my colleagues on ways to better the lives of Arizona families.”

Ansari’s absence isn’t about Trump, at least if her statement is to be believed. But it’s worth noting that of the four Democrats in Arizona’s congressional delegation — including the newest, having won her Democratic primary by just 39 votes before sailing to a win in November — she’s the one who’s demonstrated the most backbone in opposing Trump’s policy aims.

Rep. Greg Stanton, Sen. Mark Kelly and especially Sen. Ruben Gallego have signaled they’re willing to play ball with Trump on his hardline deportation goals. Gallego co-sponsored the GOP’s Laken Riley Act, which would deport undocumented immigrants without due process if they were arrested for crimes as minor as shoplifting. Stanton helped that bill pass the House while Kelly voted to advance it in the Senate.

The 32-year-old Ansari was the only Arizona Democrat to outright oppose it, calling the bill a “gross miscarriage of justice” that “will do nothing to prevent this kind of violence or reform our broken immigrant system.”

Ansari won’t be the only one missing out on Trump’s inauguration. Former First Lady Michelle Obama also won’t be there, though she's given on reason for her absence. (It’s worth noting that neither Trump nor his wife, Melania, attended Joe Biden’s inauguration.) Additionally, Ansari’s House colleague, former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, announced that she won’t attend.

If Ansari is truly skipping because of a love for MLK Day, she’ll have several events to fill her time. MLK Day events in Ansari’s district include the Arizona Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Committee’s commemorative march at Eastlake Park and a festival at Margaret T. Hance Park.