Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) fired back at online “trolls” Wednesday who she said were mocking Democratic lawmakers who wore white at Tuesday’s State of the Union address in honor of the suffragettes.
In a tweet, the freshman Massachusetts congresswoman took aim at critics who compared the all-white outfits to nurses’ uniforms, saying that Democrats were indeed nurses prepared to “cure what ails this country!”
“Trolls asking, “Who were all those #nurses on the floor last night?” in response to a sea of #suffragist white. Your fake query & sarcasm was meant as an insult. But, guess what? We love & value our #nurses & we are 100% here to cure what ails this country! Right, @RepUnderwood?” she tweeted, tagging fellow congresswoman Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-Ill.).
Pressley’s tweet was apparently directed at the Twitter accounts that mocked lawmakers during President Trump’s State of the Union address, which took place Tuesday night.
Former Trump campaign press secretary Katrina Pierson, in a widely-shared tweet, also appeared to liken the white suffragette-themed outfits to Ku Klux Klan uniforms.
{mosads}Pressley’s office didn’t immediately return a request for comment Wednesday evening on other messages the congresswoman had received about the outfits.
Dozens of congressional lawmakers including at least one male lawmaker, Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.), wore white to the annual speech by the president on Tuesday following a press conference from the Democratic Women’s Working Group.
“Today we stand together wearing white in solidarity with the women of the suffrage movement who refused to take no for an answer,” said Rep. Brenda Lawrence (D-Mich.), one of the caucus’s leaders.
“To an administration that has closed its eyes to women, we will be seen,” she added.