Mar 3, 2022 3 min read

One of the most important invitations of Joseph “JoJo” Burgess’ life was almost lost in the mail.

Not in the mail that arrives courtesy of the U.S. Postal Service, but in his email inbox.

An invitation from the White House last week to sit with first lady Jill Biden during Tuesday’s State of the Union address was first sent to the Canton Township man via email, but at first he passed over it, thinking it was one of a legion of fundraising appeals that are sent his way. The White House phoned him last Friday to make sure he received the invitation.

Burgess was, as he put it, “just floored.” Although it was relatively short notice, Burgess cleared his schedule and made his way to Washington, D.C., joining an Ohio nurse, a teenage diabetes advocate, a community college student and the chief executive officer of Intel, among others, in the gallery of the House chamber with the first lady and Doug Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris.

It was not the first time Burgess has encountered the president. He introduced Biden when he appeared at Pittsburgh’s Mill 19 in late January to talk up his infrastructure plan. Burgess said he wasn’t nervous at the thought of cameras being trained on him and his face being seen in millions of living rooms in this country and around the world when the president mentioned his name and looked toward him.

“Absolutely not,” he said by phone Wednesday while driving back home. “I have a thing for being in front of people.”

Indeed, Burgess is a veteran political and union activist. A member of the United Steelworkers for two decades, he works at the U.S. Steel Clairton Coke Works facility, is the second vice chair of the Washington County Democratic Committee and is a member of the board of the Washington branch of the NAACP.

His appearance during the State of the Union address definitely caused a stir among his friends. Burgess shut his phone off during Biden’s speech, but when it was over, he found a flood of text and phone messages had been sent. He also received 40 new friend requests on Facebook.

Burgess liked what Biden had to say. As well as discussing infrastructure, the president touched on the opioid epidemic, which is an issue that hits close to home with Burgess, since he has a family member who has wrestled with addiction.

“Everything resonated with me,” Burgess explained. “It’s great that we have someone who actually cares about us in Washington, D.C.”