diff --git a/esphome/components/api/api_connection.cpp b/esphome/components/api/api_connection.cpp
index 52700f0500..69c7efea32 100644
--- a/esphome/components/api/api_connection.cpp
+++ b/esphome/components/api/api_connection.cpp
@@ -877,8 +877,7 @@ uint16_t APIConnection::try_send_select_state(EntityBase *entity, APIConnection
                                               bool is_single) {
   auto *select = static_cast<select::Select *>(entity);
   SelectStateResponse resp;
-  const char *state = select->has_state() ? select->current_option() : "";
-  resp.set_state(StringRef(state));
+  resp.set_state(StringRef(select->current_option()));
   resp.missing_state = !select->has_state();
   return fill_and_encode_entity_state(select, resp, SelectStateResponse::MESSAGE_TYPE, conn, remaining_size, is_single);
 }