Senators ask for another State of the Union 'date night'

Sens. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) are asking for another bipartisan "date night" during this year’s State of the Union address.

For the past two years, when lawmakers from both the House and Senate gathered to hear President Obama’s address, several members have broken tradition and sat with lawmakers of the opposing party. Typically, Republicans sit on one side of the House chamber while Democrats sit on the other.

"This year, as we begin a new Congress, we are again asking our colleagues to sit together as representatives of the American people and not just representatives of political parties. We believe that with your help, we can make this a permanent tradition," Udall and Murkowski wrote in a letter to Senate and House leaders on Wednesday.

"Although this gesture did not end Washington gridlock, we feel it has been a very important step in the right direction, symbolizing the importance of working together to solve the common challenges we face in securing a strong future for the United States," they noted.

Udall first called for the arrangement in 2011, asking for a show of unity in response to the shootings in Tucson, Ariz., that severely injured former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.).

Dozens of lawmakers joined him in sitting with members from the opposing side.

That year, Giffords' Arizona colleagues, then-Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), kept an empty seat between them in her honor while she was hospitalized from the gun shot wound to her head.

In 2012, Giffords returned to the House to sit with those two lawmakers in the front row during Obama's speech.

This year, Obama will give his annual address on Feb. 12.