It’s become a tradition for members of Congress to deliver messages of their own at the State of the Union address, though this year none of the Colorado lawmakers shouted at the president during the speech, nor did the delegation join on the House floor for a kumbaya moment.

While some of the state’s DC denizens have gained national attention in recent years for their antics — both divisive and harmonious — during the presidential addresses, Colorado’s Republicans and Democrats alike stuck to less sensational methods of making their points on the night of Feb. 24, from tweeting reactions throughout President Donald Trump’s speech to inviting guests to witness the event.

The state’s four GOP House members gave their allotted golden tickets to friends, family and fellow elected officials, while the five Democratic senators and House members who attended — one Democrat avoided the speech — shared the chamber with a school shooting survivor, a small business owner and representatives of Colorado’s immigrant community and its advocates.

It was a more low-key approach than in years past, like when Republican U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert wore a black shawl with the words “Drill Baby Drill” emblazoned across her back for President Joe Biden’s first State of the Union in 2022. Later that night, when Biden spoke about veterans in “flag-draped” coffins, Boebert heckled the Democrat, referring to the soldiers who had been killed during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan the previous year.

Striking a more convivial tone, then-U.S. Sen. Mark Udall organized a display of bipartisanship the Democrat dubbed “24 hours of civility” for President Barack Obama’s third State of the Union in 2012. The initiative saw senators pair off with colleagues from the other party — Udall sat with Alaska Republican Lisa Murkowski — and the state’s delegation sit together on the House floor, instead of on opposite sides of the chamber.

That same year, then-U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn announced he would boycott the speech to express Republicans’ opposition to Obama’s policies, pioneering a tactic that has since become more routine. Democratic U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, for her part, skippedTrump’s speech this year, saying she refused to “legitimize his egregious actions” by attending.

Boebert invited state Sen. Byron Pelton as her guest, who said after the speech that he thought Trump “hit it out of the park.” Pelton added that he’d also had the chance to meet the Olympic gold-medal-winning U.S. men’s hockey team.

Republican U.S. Rep. Jeff Hurd brought a family friend, while his colleague U.S. Rep. Gabe Evans shared the evening with Anne, his wife of 17 years, calling her his “rock” and his “biggest champion.”

“Strong families are a core institution that enables our representative form of government, and our American Dream would not have been made possible without her steadfast wisdom, strength, and encouragement,” Evans said of his date for the address.

U.S. Rep. Jeff Crank invited fellow Republican El Paso County Treasurer Chuck Broerman, noting that his longtime friend, a former county clerk, had made it easier for the region’s military personnel to vote and register vehicles in his previous office. Broerman had also testified on the “importance of voter ID,” Crank said, which is an element of the GOP’s signature election-related legislation.

After the speech, Broerman told Colorado Politics that he thought Trump had delivered “his best speech so far” and said it was an honor to be there to represent the congressional district and his community.

“I think it was a great night, a memorable night,” Broerman said, adding that he thought a highlight of the speech was “the honor that the president gave to the many heroes and the people that had difficulties thrown their way, but they made the best of it and came out stronger.”

The state’s Democrats made more explicitly political statements with their invitees, with the guests of U.S. Sens. John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennet, and House Minority Leader Joe Neguse embodying sharp contrasts with Trump’s immigration policies.

Hickenlooper invited Caroline Dias Goncalves, a University of Utah student and a Dreamer who’s been in the U.S. since she was 7 years old. In the country legally, she was held in an ICE detention facility in Aurora for two weeks after being pulled over for a traffic stop in Mesa County, despite not having a criminal record.

“Caroline hopes her ordeal will inspire others and emphasizes that immigrants like her simply want a fair chance to live safely and contribute to their adopted country,” Hickenlooper said.

Bennet’s guest was Andrea Loya, executive director of Casa de Paz, an Aurora nonprofit that helps immigrants and asylum seekers. Neguse’s guest was Lisa Moreno, executive director of El Comité de Longmont, a Boulder County immigrant advocacy group.

U.S. Rep. Jason Crow invited Jay Park, who owns two restaurants in Aurora and Parker but recently closed a third. Crow said Park has struggled with the costs of the Trump administration’s tariffs and faced staffing difficulties due to mass deportation policies.

“He’s an example of how devastating this administration has been for small businesses in America and Colorado,” Crow told Colorado Politics.

Democratic Rep. Brittany Pettersen said she invited 18-year-old Tyler Guyton, a student council co-president at Evergreen High School, the site of the school shooting last September that left two students critically injured and the shooter dead of a self-inflicted gunshot.

“He’s here to remind us about how critical it is that we don’t forget about what happened in Evergreen, about the policy failures that led to that, but also the opportunity that we have to build the future that students like him deserve,” Pettersen said in an interview.

“I’m here on behalf of students, not only in Evergreen but in Colorado, who can’t be here, students who are still driving down to rehab every day, and students who have lost their lives to gun violence,” Guyton told Colorado Politics, describing himself as “the nerdy high-schooler who stays up late at night watching old political speeches.”

“What politics needs, not only in Washington but all across the country — and it goes beyond politics — is empathy,” Guyton said. “The only way to get anything done is by understanding the other person, the people on the other side of the aisle, and hopefully we can find common ground. But until that happens, the hope of my generation, it’s dwindling. And it’s not something that’s about to happen or could happen in the future, it’s real issues that are impacting real people and real young people every single day.”