Huckabee Sanders will deliver GOP State of the Union response

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Sanders will deliver the response to President Joe Biden's State of the Union address next week, Republican leaders announced on Thursday.

Sanders, a former Trump White House Press Secretary and the daughter of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, became governor of that state in her own right in November, becoming the first woman to hold the position. 

Sanders in a statement to media said she was "grateful for this opportunity to address the nation and contrast the GOP’s optimistic vision for the future against the failures of President Biden and the Democrats."

"We are ready to begin a new chapter in the story of America," she went on, "to be written by a new generation of leaders ready to defend our freedom against the radical left and expand access to quality education, jobs, and opportunity for all.”

Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, meanwhile, called Sanders a "servant-leader of true determination and conviction."

"The youngest governor in America, Sarah is fighting on behalf of parents, small businesses, and ordinary taxpayers," McCarthy said. 

Biden's State of the Union address will take place on Tuesday, Feb. 7, at 9 p.m. EST.