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President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address, the final one of his two-term presidency, did not rank among the highest priorities for some Republicans in Winston-Salem.

State Rep. Debra Conrad didn’t plan to watch, she said Tuesday morning, though she did plan to watch the GOP presidential debate Thursday on Fox Business. Mark Baker, the chairman of the Forsyth County Republican Party, said he was planning to attend a meeting. Other officials declined to comment.

Asked why some Republicans seemed uninterested, state Rep. Donny Lambeth, a Republican, said, “I don’t think the State of the Union is much more than ceremonial as the president finishes his term in office.”

“Not much of what he says will make much of an impact this year on the direction of our country.

“But you should respect the office of the president regardless of your point of view or whether you agree with his policies or not.

“Our nation has so many issues that we need an open and constructive dialogue around,” Lambeth said.

Obama’s State of the Union address departed from the traditional format of laying out legislative goals and instead laid out some the challenges, in his view, the United States faces.

Obama highlighted four areas: Giving everyone a fair shot at opportunity in the U.S. economy; making technology benefit all, especially as it relates to climate change; keeping the United States safe without becoming the world’s policeman; and making politics reflect what’s best in the U.S., not what’s worse.

He also injected himself into the presidential race.

Alluding to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s call to conditionally ban Muslims from entering the United States, Obama rejected politics that targets people based on religion or race.

“This isn’t a matter of political correctness.

“It’s a matter of understanding what makes us strong. …

“When politicians insult Muslims, when a mosque is vandalized, or a kid bullied — that doesn’t make us safer. That’s not telling it like it is. It’s just wrong. It diminishes us in the eyes of the world. It makes it harder to achieve our goals. And it betrays who we are as a country,” Obama said.

For state Sen. Paul Lowe, a Winston-Salem Democrat, the last State of the Union address was a memorable one.

“Certainly the president did give a segue for the Democrats to run on,” Lowe said. “I like the idea of recruiting more teachers, making college more affordable, making it easier to participate in the election system,” he said.

For U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-5th, whose district includes a part of Winston-Salem, the speech “was more of the same empty words.”

“President Obama has never adequately focused on what really matters in this country — keeping America safe and defending our cherished freedoms. Instead, he wants to maintain the status quo and continues to promote top-down, one-size-fits-all federal dictates that stymie economic growth,” Foxx said in an email.

Among the challenges Obama focused on were reforming the criminal justice system, helping people battling prescription-drug and heroin abuse, fixing a “broken” immigration system, protecting children from gun violence, implementing paid leave and raising the minimum wage.

“They’re still the right things to do, and I won’t let up until they get done,” Obama said.

For Eric Ellison, the chairman of the Forsyth County Democratic Party, Obama’s speech described in broad strokes how far the United States had come since he was first elected in 2008, recovering from the Great Recession, providing health care to millions of Americans, producing job growth and recognizing marriage equality.

And the speech, he said, signaled that Obama still has work to do.

“With one year to go, President Obama declared that he will not sit on the sidelines but will continue to work to achieve his policy goals of improving this economy, addressing global climate conditions, and enacting reasonable gun control.

“Tonight, his eloquent vision was at its best and he inspired us all, Democrats and Republicans, to reach our highest ideals as American citizens,” Ellison said.

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