President Biden will deliver the State of the Union address on Thursday night at 9 p.m. before a joint session of Congress, laying out his agenda ahead of the presidential election in November.
Mr. Biden will seek to reassure Americans with a strong performance as he navigates wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, a public disinclined to view the economy favorably and voters who are concerned about his age.
Here’s what you need to know.
Where can I watch?
The New York Times will stream the address at nytimes.com with live analysis from reporters. The speech will also be carried by major television networks and on cable.
The White House will also stream the address, accompanied by American Sign Language interpretation, on wh.gov/sotu. Mr. Biden is expected to speak for a little over an hour.
Who will deliver responses?
Senator Katie Britt, Republican of Alabama, will deliver the response for Republicans, setting up an opposing agenda to the one presented by the Democratic president. Ms. Britt, 42, is the former chief of staff to her predecessor, Senator Richard Shelby. She was sworn in as Alabama’s first elected female senator last January and endorsed former President Donald J. Trump in December.
Monica De La Cruz, a freshman Republican from Texas, will deliver the Spanish-language address on behalf of her party, which has sought to make border security a central issue. Ms. De La Cruz is the first Republican and the first woman to represent her district, which includes a sliver of the border with Mexico along the Rio Grande Valley.
Progressive Democrats will also deliver a response to Mr. Biden’s speech, this year delivered by Nicolas O’Rourke, a pastor and member of Philadelphia’s City Council. Mr. O’Rourke’s speech will be the seventh response from the Working Families Party.
Who will attend?
The first lady and members of Congress traditionally invite guests to the address.
Jill Biden has invited 20 guests who are intended to underscore the president’s domestic and foreign policy positions and achievements, including the prime minister of Sweden, which joined NATO earlier Thursday; a Texas mother whose petition for an abortion was denied by state courts; and a woman whose in vitro fertilization treatments were halted by the Alabama state Supreme Court decision last month.
With access to abortion and women’s reproductive health national issues that continue to mobilize Democrats, lawmakers from the party have invited a number of reproductive care providers and advocates. Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia has invited the first person born in the United States as a result of in vitro fertilization, and Representative Judy Chu of California invited the Indiana doctor who in 2022 provided an abortion to a 10-year-old victim of rape.
House Speaker Mike Johnson has invited the parents of Evan Gershkovich, The Wall Street Journal reporter who has been held in Russia for roughly one year on charges of espionage that his newspaper and the U.S. government forcefully deny.
More than a dozen family members of current and former American hostages held in Gaza after the Oct. 7 invasion of Israel will also be in attendance as the guests of lawmakers from both parties.
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