Connections

Reactions to the State of the Union address, part 1

By Evan Dawson,

Published February 25, 2026 at 5:05 PM EST

Three people wearing headphones sit at a table in a radio talk studio: a woman at left wears her blonde hair pulled back and a grey blazer over a green button-down shirt; a woman at center has long dark hair and wears a black vest over a black and white patterned blouse; a man at right has very short dark hair and wears a grey fleece vest, a white button-down shirt with small blue dots, jeans and brown shoes. — Lauren Hall and Nayeliz Santiago with host Evan Dawson on "Connections with Evan Dawson" on Wednesday, February 25, 2026

We break down President Trump's State of the Union address. Our guests analyze his remarks on the economy, tariffs, immigration, foreign policy, and more.

Our guests:

Lauren Hall, Ph.D., professor of political science and associate dean at RIT, author, and co-host of the "We Made this Political" podcast
Nayeliz Santiago, president of Monroe County Young Democrats

Connections

Evan Dawson

Evan Dawson is the host of "Connections with Evan Dawson." He joined WXXI in January 2014 after working at 13WHAM-TV, where he served as morning news anchor. He was hired as a reporter for 13WHAM-TV in 2003 before being promoted to anchor in 2007.

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Megan Mack

Megan Mack is the executive producer of "Connections with Evan Dawson" and live/televised engagement programming.

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Julie Williams

Julie Williams is an associate producer for "Connections with Evan Dawson." She started at WXXI in 2019 and has been working on Connections since 2022.

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