Fresh off State of the Union response, Sen. Katie Britt gives McConnell Center lecture

U.S. Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., had one clear message for an audience at the University of Louisville on Tuesday: Young people are going to effect change and are a key part of solving the nation's problems.

Whether it's dealing with the crisis at the border or high inflation and credit card debt, she said she's hopeful for the nation's future because of the students and scholars she met while on campus.

"We are counting on your generation to answer the call," Britt said.

Britt's message was a part of her lecture at the McConnell Center on Tuesday morning. The Distinguished Speaker Series has brought in more than 60 guests, which recently included U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett.

U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he invited Britt because of her remarkable background and success story. Britt is the youngest women elected and to the U.S. Senate and first woman to be elected from Alabama.

She was also selected to give the Republican response to President Joe Biden's State of the Union Address in last month.

"I was thoroughly impressed with her performance ... to handle the heat of the spotlight, you need thick skin," McConnell said.

Critics of Britt's rebuttal say she presented a misleading story of a victim of human trafficking and implied it happened during Biden's tenure.

Britt hasn't admitted to making a mistake or misleading the audience over the timing of the story she told.

Saturday Night Live even poked fun at Britt's performance by featuring actress Scarlett Johansson as Britt in the show's opening skit.

She said in an episode of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz's podcast that she was "pretty pumped" they chose Johansson to play her.

McConnell touched on the SNL skit on Tuesday, mentioning that he also made an appearance on the late night show.

"I know it's going to take a lot more than a few punches from the press to knock her down," McConnell said.

Throughout Britt's lecture, she talked about life lessons she's taken to the Senate and how she's built meaningful relationships.

Although Britt said she wasn't as experienced as some of her colleagues, she said her unique perspective as a mom is how she built a relationship with McConnell.

"I want to tell you what it's like to be a mom, what it's like to raise our kids — the things that my friends and walking group are talking about," Britt said she told McConnell. "Here are the things that we've got to focus on. This is where we need to go. We got to pay attention and pay attention now.

"Leader McConnell looked at me, and he said, 'you're right,'" Britt continued. "You have a unique voice. It's a voice we need to hear. I want you to come to sit at my leadership table."

Britt also touted her experience abroad in places like Saudi Arabia and Israel — travels that she said changed her and where she learned that the way the U.S. left Afghanistan sent shockwaves across the world.

"It helped lay the foundation for foreign policy in a way that I couldn't have read," Britt said of the trip abroad with other senators in October.

McConnell created the center that bears his name in 1991. It works to recruit Kentucky's "next generation of great leaders" through scholarships and though hosting the public speaker series. The center also houses the archives of McConnell and his wife, Elaine Chao, the former U.S. transportation secretary.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Alabama Sen. Katie Britt featured speaker at McConnell Center