What to know about tonight's State of the Union address

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The State of the Union address is set to kick off at 9 p.m. ET on Thursday evening. It is President Biden’s third address to a joint session of Congress since taking over the White House in January 2021.

Virtually all of the top national officials in Washington, D.C., are slated to attend, from Supreme Court justices, to members of Congress, to Biden’s cabinet, save for one notable exception – one member of the Biden administration will sit out the event as the “designated survivor” to ensure continuity of government in a worst-case scenario.

Lawmakers have also invited guests to attend, ranging from the NYPD officers caught on video being attacked by a migrant mob in Times Square, to families of hostages being held captive by Hamas in Gaza.

There will be fanfare before and after the event when the officials and commander-in-chief finally arrive, but the speech itself is likely to last slightly over an hour. Biden’s longest address to Congress was last year, about an hour and 13 minutes, while his shortest was just shy of an hour and two minutes in 2022.

Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network will carry live coverage of the event on Thursday evening. It can also be viewed on YouTube and various streaming services.