'I believe in America': Fired-up Biden uses State of the Union to skewer GOP

I’m especially interested in what the president has to say about abortion rights. It has been a winning issue for Democrats, and a losing one for Republicans, since the Supreme Court upended the status quo and reversed Roe v. Wade's protections in June 2022. In fact, polling shows that Americans have become even more supportive of abortion rights since the decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization was issued.

Democrats will be eager to campaign on expanding and protecting reproductive health this fall, and their voters rank the issue highly, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll.

In that same poll, 55% of voters said they want to see the federal government protect abortion access across the country, and one in eight voters said it was the most important factor determining their vote.

On the opposite side, many anti-abortion groups want their candidates to support a national ban, something that’s very unpopular with the public as a whole.

-Monica Potts, 538

House Speaker Mike Johnson invited two Gold Star parents, Alicia Lopez and Darin Hoover, who both lost children in the Kabul airport bombing during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, to attend Biden's State of the Union.

Cpl. Hunter Lopez and Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Taylor Hoover were among the 13 service members killed and numerous others injured at Abbey Gate.

"President Biden's hasty, unconditional withdrawal from Afghanistan was a failure for America and its allies. It led to the tragic deaths," Johnson contended in a statement to ABC News, in part, ahead of the address. Biden has defended the decision to end the decadeslong war.

One of Biden's most notable moments in last year's speech was an off-script exchange with raucous Republicans on the issue of Social Security and Medicare.

House Speaker Mike Johnson has urged against history repeating itself, telling his conference behind closed doors earlier this week: "Decorum is the order of the day."

It's unclear if the lawmakers will heed his warning. Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who stood up last year to call Biden a "liar," didn't rule out reacting to the president again when pressed by CNN.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that the president is "ready for anything."

The attendees at Biden's address Thursday were invited because each "personify issues or themes" that he will discuss in his speech, the White House said in a statement.

Biden's guests will shine a spotlight the Israel-Gaza conflict (which has fueled progressive criticism against him) and reproductive freedom battles, gun violence prevention, union protections and more.

Standing behind Biden will be Vice President Kamala Harris on his right and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson on his left. Members of both the Senate and the House of Representatives will be in attendance.

More than a dozen family members of Americans who are thought to still be held hostage in Gaza and Mia Schem, a freed Israeli hostage, will be present at the Capitol.

First lady Jill Biden invited three women working to protect reproductive rights in her box: Kate Cox, Latorya Beasley and Maria Shriver.

Jazmin Cazares, the older sister of a 9-year-old victim of the deadly shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas, will be in attendance, too.

The United Auto Workers union president, Shawn Fain, who recently endorsed Biden, will also be present.