Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue Was 2018's 'Designated Survivor' : NPR
Sonny Perdue
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue  Was 2018's 'Designated Survivor'
President Trump's first State of the Union address had a prestigious and eclectic audience — Vice President Pence  an assortment of Cabinet secretaries  Bill Nye the Science Guy  Paul Ryan's likely 2018 Democratic opponent and a plethora of military heroes — but one member of Trump's Cabinet was notably missing: Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue.
 Perdue  was this year's "designated survivor " the chosen official who skips the president's speech to ensure the continuity of government in the case of a catastrophe that wipes out the president  the vice president and the rest of the nation's leaders who will be in attendance.
The White House announced just before Tuesday's speech that  Perdue  would skip the State of the Union address in the House chamber at the Capitol and instead spend the evening in a secure and undisclosed location.
The selection of  Perdue  to lead the hypothetically decimated government is an arguably bipartisan one. The former governor of Georgia was one of Trump's Cabinet selections who didn't cause a stir  as he was confirmed by the Senate last April by a vote of 87-11  with dozens of Democrats voting for him.
 Perdue  grew up on a farm in central Georgia and worked as a veterinarian before serving as the state's governor from 2003 to 2011.
It's unclear where exactly  he  was Tuesday during Trump's speech.
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue  Was 2018's 'Designated Survivor'
President Trump's first State of the Union address had a prestigious and eclectic audience — Vice President Pence  an assortment of Cabinet secretaries  Bill Nye the Science Guy  Paul Ryan's likely 2018 Democratic opponent and a plethora of military heroes — but one member of Trump's Cabinet was notably missing: [TGT][TGT]was this year's "designated survivor " the chosen official who skips the president's speech to ensure the continuity of government in the case of a catastrophe that wipes out the president  the vice president and the rest of the nation's leaders who will be in attendance.
The White House announced just before Tuesday's speech that  [TGT]would skip the State of the Union address in the House chamber at the Capitol and instead spend the evening in a secure and undisclosed location.
[TGT] is an arguably bipartisan one. The former governor of Georgia was one of Trump's Cabinet selections who didn't cause a stir  as he was confirmed by the Senate last April by a vote of 87-11  with dozens of Democrats voting for him.
 [TGT]grew up on a farm in central Georgia and worked as a veterinarian before serving as the state's governor from 2003 to 2011.
It's unclear where exactly  he  was Tuesday during Trump's speech.