President Trump will deliver the State of the Union address Tuesday night, a tradition that goes back to Woodrow Wilson.
Trump was originally scheduled to deliver the annual speech Jan. 29, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) revoked his invitation during the latest government shutdown.
This will be Trump’s first time speaking in a House chamber that is now controlled by Democrats, after the party retook the lower chamber in the 2018 midterms.
It follows a bitter partisan battle over his proposed border wall that resulted in the longest government shutdown in history.
Here’s everything you need to know about the speech and the ceremony surrounding it:
What time will Trump give the address?
The Tuesday night address is scheduled to begin at 9 p.m. Eastern time.
Where can I watch the State of the Union?
You can watch the address live on TV on the major networks and cable news channels. You can also listen on talk radio stations, and media sources will have a live stream online.
What will be in Trump’s State of the Union address?
Aides to the president previewed his speech to reporters, and it will contain calls for bipartisanship.
Trump intends to offer an “aspirational” and “visionary” path for the nation, even as his relations with lawmakers have soured over his threats to use executive power to bypass them.
Trump will call on Congress to work with him on initiatives around infrastructure and health care, while also reaffirming his strategy to toughen immigration enforcement, confront China on trade and actively intervene in the political upheaval in Venezuela.
The president also is expected to make appeals to “heal old wounds,” according to an excerpt of his prepared remarks.
“We can bridge old divisions, heal old wounds, build new coalitions, forge new solutions and unlock the extraordinary promise of America’s future. The decision is ours to make,” Trump is expected to say.
How will Democrats react?
As the minority party last year, Democrats registered plenty of symbolic dissent.
Some wore black clothing (for #MeToo), kente ties and sashes (because of Trump’s Africa insult), butterfly stickers (for the “dreamers”), and red buttons (for a victim of racial crime).
Dozens of Democrats refused to stand when Trump entered the House chamber, forgetting that one stands out of respect for the office, not the officeholder.
Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) grabbed a middle-aisle seat only to turn his back on Trump when he walked past.
During the speech, Democrats groaned, scoffed, heckled and made lemon-biting faces.
Others simply boycotted.
It remains to be seen how Democrats will treat Trump’s message now that they are the majority in the House.
Who will sit with the first lady?
Timothy Matson, a member of the Pittsburgh Police Department who suffered multiple gun shot wounds when a shooter opened fire at the Tree of Life Synagogue in October of last year, will be in attendance.
So will Judah Samet, a Holocaust survivor and a survivor of the Tree of Life shooting.
Joshua Trump, an 11-year-old from Delaware whose parents said he faced bullying in school because of his last name, will also be in attendance.
The daughter, granddaughter and great-granddaughter of Gerald and Sharon David will also serve as special White House guests.
The two were murdered in their home in Nevada earlier this year, allegedly by an undocumented immigrant.
Alice Johnson will also be there.
Johnson was serving a life sentence for nonviolent drug and money laundering charges until Trump granted her clemency last year after meeting with Kim Kardashian about her case.
Other special guests include the first prisoner released as a result of the First Step Act and a woman recovering from an opioid addiction.
Do members of Congress invite guests? Who are they?
Like the president, lawmakers invite guests to the State of the Union to make a statement on an issue they wish to highlight.
This year, several will do so. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.) has invited Victorina Morales, an undocumented worker who recently worked for Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J., and left after she publicly disclosed her immigration status.
Sandra Diaz, a native of Costa Rica who worked at Trump’s club from 2010 to 2013, also will be attending the State of the Union as a guest of Democratic Rep. Jimmy Gomez of California.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) will bring Ana Maria Archila, the activist who confronted Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) in a Senate elevator to urge him to vote against Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination.
Sen. Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.), who recently announced a presidential bid, will bring Trisha Pesiri-Dybvik, an air traffic controller who lost her home in 2017′s Thomas Fire and was affected by the shutdown.
Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., invited a mother and daughter from Guatemala who were denied asylum in the U.S. and eventually were separated for two months last spring after they were caught illegally crossing the southern border.
Democrat Chris Murphy of Connecticut, has invited Regina Moller, the executive director of Noank Community Support Services, a nonprofit organization, which offers shelters to unaccompanied minors separated from their families at the U.S. southern border with Mexico.
On the other side of the aisle, Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-Neb.) will be accompanied by Nadia Murad, a Yazidi activist who escaped the Islamic State and went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, invited the sector chief for the Border Patrol’s Rio Grande Valley Manny Padilla to be his guest.
Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga., invited Art Gallegos, the co-founder of the Latinos Conservative Organization, in an effort to emphasize the need for border security.
Who is the designated survivor?
Each year, a designated Cabinet member does not attend the speech and is instead taken to a secure location in the event of a disaster or attack.
Trump’s 2019 designated survivor has not been named.
In 2018, the designated survivor was Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue; in 2017, it was Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin.
Who will deliver the Democrats’ response?
Stacey Abrams, who narrowly lost the race for Georgia governor in November but is considered one of the Democratic Party’s brightest stars, will deliver the Democrats’ response to the address.
Who will deliver the Democrats’ response in Spanish?
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, a former member of the House Democratic leadership, will deliver the Spanish-language response.
What is the history of the State of the Union address?
As any “West Wing” fan worth their salt knows, the constitutional justification for a State of the Union comes from Article II of the Constitution, which states the president “shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.”
But it didn’t become an annual tradition until the presidency of Woodrow Wilson, who in 1913 delivered a speech to Congress about tariffs.
At the time, it was seen as a highly controversial move.
Wilson’s idea was picked up by subsequent presidents, some of whom delivered them as radio addresses, before Harry Truman delivered the first televised iteration.