'I believe in America': Fired-up Biden uses State of the Union to skewer GOP, his 'predecessor'
The president made the case for why he deserves a second term.
President Joe Biden delivered his State of the Union address at the U.S. Capitol on Thursday night.
The speech provided Biden one of his biggest audiences of the year as he made his case for a second term and contrasted his vision of the country's future with Republicans ahead of what's expected to be a lengthy general election fight with former President Donald Trump.
ABC News live-blogged every major moment and highlight from the speech, with 538 providing analysis and a closer look at the polling and data behind the politicians.
Key moments:
Tlaib, Omar wear keffiyehs at address
Reps. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., and Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., are wearing keffiyehs, traditional Palestinian scarves, at the address, as the progressive wing of the Democratic Party continues to call for a cease-fire in Gaza during the Israel-Hamas war.
Biden comes face to face with Marjorie Taylor Greene
Shortly after entering the House chamber to deliver his speech, Biden, as he was greeting various lawmakers, came face to face with Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene -- a vocal critic who interrupted his previous address.
"Say her name," Greene appeared to say to Biden, referring to Laken Riley, a Georgia college student who was killed last month.
The suspect in that case is a migrant who is in the country illegally, officials have said, which conservatives have seized on to attack Biden's border policies.
The president didn't visibly react to Greene during their brief interaction.
- ABC News' Adam Carlson
Parents of reporter detained in Russia attend SOTU
The parents of Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journalist reporter imprisoned by Russia on charges he denies, are at the State of the Union as guests of House Speaker Mike Johnson, according to the Journal.
“We are grateful to Speaker Johnson for inviting us to attend the State of the Union and for providing the opportunity to highlight Evan’s wrongful detention,” Ella Milman and Mikhail Gershkovich said in a statement published by the newspaper.
“We’re also grateful to President Biden for his continued work on Evan’s behalf. Evan is an American, and he was doing his job as a journalist. He is most importantly a beloved son and brother, and we want him home," they said.
-ABC News' Patrick Reevell
The president arrives to House chamber to deliver his speech
Biden has arrived to the House chamber to deliver his State of the Union.
The president is making his way through a sea of lawmakers and guests on the way to the podium to speak.
It is a potentially pivotal evening for Biden in the early stages of his 2024 general election fight -- set to be against Trump.
Ahead of his address, he said he was "feeling good" and pumped his fists in the air as he departed the White House. Pro-Palestinian protesters near the Capitol didn't interfere with the president's motorcade on the short drive across Washington.
-ABC News' Justin Gomez
Foreign policy has opened up as a partisan battleground
As ABC News is reporting, Biden's foreign policy has come under fire from left, but the right also has something to be unhappy about. Whether to continue to aid Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s two-year-old invasion has opened up as a major difference between the two parties. House Speaker Mike Johnson has stopped a Senate aid package from passing in his chamber, and continuing to fund the war is becoming more unpopular with Republican voters.
On the left, Democrats have disapproved of Biden’s response to the Israel-Hamas war. To put pressure on the administration, protesters launched a campaign to vote "uncommitted" in various Democratic primaries around the country, and Vice President Kamala Harris has recently joined calls for a cease-fire as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza becomes increasingly dire. Biden may want to work to address concerns within his own party.
-Monica Potts, 538