President Biden's 2024 State of the Union address

President Joe Biden on Thursday plans to offer a swipe at his presumptive general election opponent while also making implicit acknowledgement of his own age during his State of the Union address, offering a glimpse of how he’ll address the thorny topic that has become a backdrop to his campaign. 

“My lifetime has taught me to embrace freedom and democracy. A future based on the core values that have defined America: honesty, decency, dignity, equality. To respect everyone. To give everyone a fair shot. To give hate no safe harbor,” Biden will say, according to excerpts shared with CNN ahead of the speech. “Now some other people my age see a different story: An American story of resentment, revenge, and retribution. That’s not me.”

The reference to his age, which critics have raised as a weakness for Biden ahead of 2024’s general election matchup, reflects a more offensive tack for the president -- last month, in an interview with comedian Seth Meyers, Biden told the late night host voters should not just consider how old a candidate is, but “how old (their) ideas are.”

At 81, Biden would be the oldest person elected president if he wins reelection in November, while Trump will turn 78 in June.

Vowing to restore Roe

Biden also plans to vow to “restore Roe v. Wade as the law of the land again” if Congress passes such a law, according to the excerpts.

The president plans to lean into the political potency of the issue of reproductive rights, by adding: “But they found out when reproductive freedom was on the ballot and won in 2022, 2023, and they will find out again in 2024.”

Taking credit for "greatest comeback story never told"

And Biden will work to take credit for a post-pandemic economic boom in his speech, even as many Americans still say in polls they feel sour about the state of the country and its economy.

The lines reflect what has been a persistent frustration for Biden and his team as the country emerged from the Covid pandemic: despite easing inflation and rising wages, few Americans say they feel the improvements and aren’t giving Biden credit.

In Thursday’s speech, Biden will say: “Let’s tell that story here and now. America’s comeback is building a future of American possibilities, building an economy from the middle out and the bottom up – not the top down, investing in all of America – in all Americans – to make sure everyone has a fair shot and we leave no one behind.”

The White House invited Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, to attend the State of Union as a guest of President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden, but she is unable to attend, two White House officials said.

The president met with Navalnaya and her daughter Dasha Navalnaya in San Francisco last month in the weeks after Navalny died while imprisoned in Russia.

Biden has rebuked Russian President Vladimir Putin for Navalny’s death, and used the moment to draw a contrast with former President Donald Trump, who refused to condemn Putin in the wake of the opposition figure's passing.

The concept of a State of the Union address is enshrined in the Constitution, but it has evolved over its history.

Is the president required to give an annual State of the Union address? What’s the term for a guest mentioned by the president during the speech? Which president was the first to call it a “State of the Union” address?

Click here to test your knowledge and see how well you know the history of the yearly presidential address:

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CNN's State of the Union quiz: How well do you know the history of the yearly presidential address?

The president is ready for potential hecklers at his State of the Union speech on Thursday, a White House official told CNN.

When President Joe Biden delivered his address last year, Republicans in the House chamber shouted at the president as a way to demonstrate their opposition to his policy stances, on everything from immigration to Social Security. 

In one of the most memorable moments of the evening, Biden, at one point, fired back over the boos: “Those are the facts! Check it out! Check it out!”

The president and his top aides fully expect that raucous lawmakers could once again set out to interrupt Biden’s address tonight, particularly given the deep political divisions and heightened tensions roiling Washington on issues like border security and Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza. 

Officials emphasized that Biden will be ready for whatever comes his way, particularly given how much practice the president has had with interruptions during speeches recently. Demonstrators popping up at Biden's speeches to protest the president’s refusal to call for a permanent ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war have become common in recent months.

“That kind of stuff happens all the time,” the official said. “He’s prepared for it.”

President Joe Biden plans to draw a contrast between his economic policy and congressional Republicans’ policy during his State of the Union speech Thursday, according to one White House official. 

Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers Jared Bernstein told CNN that Biden will discuss in his speech how his economy is working for young people while Republicans' tax policy “looks a lot like tax cuts for the very rich.”    

The president will also highlight how he has tried to cancel student loan debt, he said.

The economy remains a critical issue for the president and one on which his approval rating hasn’t broken 40% since December 2021. It currently stands at 37% among the full public, according to CNN’s polling.

When President Joe Biden returns to the House chamber to deliver his third State of the Union address tonight, two seats on the dais behind him will be reserved for the vice president and the House speaker.

Vice President Kamala Harris, who is also the president of the Senate, will sit to the right behind Biden, and Johnson will be seated to his left.

Presidents and first ladies typically invite about two dozen guests to sit in the House gallery. State of the Union guests help put a human face to a president’s message for both policymakers and viewers at home.

The president’s Cabinet, Supreme Court justices who choose to attend, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, former members of Congress and members of the diplomatic corps are seated in front of lawmakers.

House members aren’t assigned seats. Instead, seats in the chamber are doled out on a first-come, first-served basis on the day of the speech. House members must stay seated in the spot they choose until the address begins, according to the Congressional Research Service.

Senators join their House colleagues in the chamber, sitting at the front, a report from the Congressional Research Service states.

The tradition of the State of the Union address, or annual address from the president, has evolved throughout its history.

In fact, the State of the Union was known as the "President's Annual Message to Congress" until well into the 20th century, according to a report from the Congressional Research Service.

George Washington delivered the first "annual message" on Jan. 8, 1790, at Federal Hall in New York. John Adams also delivered the speech before Congress.

Thomas Jefferson, the third president, discontinued this practice in 1801, saying the elaborate, formal ceremony too closely resembled a king addressing his subjects.

Instead, Jefferson's private secretary carried the written message to Capitol Hill, and it was read to the chamber by the Clerk of the House. The practice of written annual messages continued for 112 years. President Woodrow Wilson resumed the practice of addressing Congress in person in 1913, the report said.

President Franklin Roosevelt was the first to call his speech the “State of the Union” address, according to the Senate Historical Office, and the term was made official under President Harry Truman.

Take a trip back in time and see what the address looked like throughout history

President Joe Biden will take to the House chamber to give his third State of the Union address. It's a critical opportunity for the president to tout his accomplishments in office and lay out his plans for another four years in the nation’s top job, aides said, as he ramps up reelection efforts.

Last year, Biden's address was a message of unadulterated optimism – even in the face of open hostility.

The speech carried a strain of populism rooted in strengthening the middle class – vintage Biden, but delivered at a pivotal moment for his political future. It's a theme that aides say will also be present in this year's speech.

Here are some of the big themes from Biden's last address:

In conversations prior to the State of the Union address, the Congressional Black Caucus asked President Joe Biden to use the platform to commemorate the anniversary of Bloody Sunday.

On March 7, 1965, police attacked scores of civil rights activists during a march in Selma, Alabama, that is today referred to as Bloody Sunday.

The caucus has asked the president to “remind America about its promise, its purpose and its potential. And to speak very directly about the challenges that we’re facing as a nation when it comes to race, as it comes to our democracy, and as it comes to our freedoms, our rights and the opportunities, which are also under attack,” Black Caucus Chair and Nevada Democratic Rep. Steven Horsford told reporters in advance of the address. 

First lady Dr. Jill Biden is hosting Bettie Mae Fikes in her box tonight, “an American singer and civil rights advocate who was a Bloody Sunday Foot Soldier,” the White House said, adding that she had also joined the president for an anniversary ceremony last year in Selma.