Addressing his first divided Congress, Biden says 'the soul of this nation is strong'

The opposition response to the State of the Union has been around for more than half a century, but in modern times the opposition party has often used it to showcase a new, high-profile figure. It's no different this year, as Republicans were represented by Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who served as a press secretary in the Trump White House.

Sanders just won her new office in November, making her the first woman governor in Arkansas's history. This puts her right at home with many first-term governors, senators and representatives who've given a response speech in recent years. Previous orators include Democratic Gov. Tim Kaine of Virginia in 2006, Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida in 2013, Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa in 2015 and Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan in 2020.

And with the proliferation of response speeches in different languages and from various party factions, even more fresh faces are in the limelight this year. First-term GOP Rep. Juan Ciscomani of Arizona gave the Spanish-language response for his party, while first-term Democratic Rep. Delia Ramirez of Illinois offered the Working Families Party's response.

-FiveThirtyEight's Geoffrey Skelley

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders delivered the Republican response to President Biden's State of the Union, in which he called on Congress to "finish the job" on health care, the economy, policing and more.

"Being a mom to three young children taught me not to believe every story I hear. So, forgive me for not believing much of anything I heard tonight from President Biden. From out-of-control inflation and violent crime to the dangerous border crisis and threat from China, Biden and the Democrats have failed you," Sanders said.

She quickly drew on some key differences between her and Biden, saying they "don't have a lot in common."

"At 40, I'm the youngest governor in the country. At 80, he's the oldest president in American history," she said. "I'm the first woman to lead my state. He's the first man to surrender his presidency to a woke mob that can't even tell you what a woman is."

While he didn't directly mention it, Biden made a passing reference to what the federal government said was a Chinese surveillance balloon that flew for days over the continental U.S. before being shot down by the military on Saturday.

"I'm committed to work with China where we can advance American interests and benefit the world," Biden said as he spoke briefly about foreign policy. "But make no mistake about it, as we made clear last week, if China threatens our sovereignty, we will act to protect our country and we did."

Biden argued that "winning the competition with China should unite all of us."

With the final lines of his 2023 State of the Union address, the president told the joint session of Congress that they are at an "inflection point": "We must see each other not as enemies but as fellow Americans. We are a good people, the only nation in the world built on an idea," he said.

Biden ended his speech telling the nation that the state of the union is strong, alluding to the fulfillment of one of his campaign promises -- to restore "the soul" of the nation.

"Because the soul of this nation is strong, because the backbone of this nation is strong, because the people of this nation are strong, the state of the union is strong," he said.

"As I stand here tonight, I have never been more optimistic about the future of America. We just have to remember who we are."