Going to a presidential address is a once-in-a-lifetime event, and Pvt. First Class Sadie Lincoln will seize her moment this week as the guest of U.S. Rep. Josh Riley, NY-19, at Tuesday’s joint session of Congress address by President Donald Trump.
Lincoln, who turns 23 years old this week, is a lifelong resident of Otsego County. She and her 3-year-old son, Maben, live in Oneonta, where she is the human resources coordinator at The Arc Otsego. She attended Laurens Central School and earned a paralegal associate of applied science degree from Herkimer College.
Following in the footsteps of her grandfather, retired Army Command Sgt. Master Gary Flarehty, Lincoln enlisted in the Army in 2023. She is a human resources specialist in the National Guard 206 Military Police Company, as well as a member of American Legion Post 259.
Lincoln received the invitation to attend Trump’s address to Congress as Riley’s guest on Wednesday, Feb. 26 while in Savannah, Georgia, visiting her boyfriend, Anthony Popete. They met during basic training and advanced individual training, she said.
She plans to fly to Washington, D.C., Tuesday morning.
“Immediately I knew I wanted to go,” Lincoln said Monday, March 3. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity regardless of you political stance and how you feel about what’s going on at the White House.”
Despite the short notice, Lincoln said her boss at The Arc Otsego was excited for her and supportive of the trip. She added that since The Arc Otsego receives federal funding from Medicaid, she knows firsthand how important federal funds are to agencies like her employer.
The Army was understanding as well, she said, and her family was able to help with child care.
Lincoln said that she caught the attention of Riley’s office through commenting on social media.
“I’ve been pretty vocal on his social media platforms,” Lincoln said, “and in turn the person that runs his social media has been in touch with me over the last few months.”
The social media manager told Lincoln she was “the first person he thought of” to attend the address.
“I represent single mothers and veterans,” she said, “and I’m the type of person that we need to represent working class people in this type of environment.”
In a press release, Riley said that Lincoln “represents the best of Upstate New York.”
“A single mom who put herself through college while raising a toddler, she now works two jobs, and still made time to enlist in the Army because hard work, patriotism and service are the Upstate values she was raised with,” he said in a statement.
Riley said that the House of Representatives’ proposed budget “would put even more strain on young families like PFC Lincoln’s.”
“Now, extreme budget proposals out of Washington are threatening to throw her son off his health care, take food off their table and throw their family into financial disaster,” Riley said. “Sadie Lincoln has put her life on the line for her family and our country. If Washington politicians want to screw her over to give tax breaks to a bunch of billionaires, they’re going to have to look her in the eyes while they do it.”
Tuesday’s speech, the first joint Congressional address of Trump’s second term, is not considered a State of the Union address as in other years. A State of the Union address looks back at the prior year, and since Trump has only been in office for a month, this speech is expect to be more forward-looking.