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The state of the union address traditionally has a brief response from the party out of power.

Democrats are calling on Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger, who ran on affordability when she won a Republican-held office last November. The response after the speech typically runs between 10 and 15 minutes.

Although total viewership has dwindled since its peak in the 1990s, the address remains an important event on the political calendar watched by tens of millions of Americans.

Members of the House are seated a half-hour beforehand, before protocol officers announce the arrival of various officials including the cabinet and the Supreme Court justices, culminating in the arrival of the president just after 9 p.m.

While most presidents have kept the speech to less than an hour, Bill Clinton, Joe Biden and Trump have been more verbose. In Trump's first term, all of his states of the union cracked an hour, and this term his first address to Congress (though not technically a state of the union) was an hour and 39 minutes.

U.S. President Donald Trump has promised tonight's state of the union speech will be long because he has "so much to talk about."

As our colleagues have reported, Trump will likely touch on a wide array of subjects, ranging from Iran to the Olympics, after his remarks begin at 9 p.m. ET:

Tariffs: Trump has called the Supreme Court's 6-3 decision against the bulk of his global tariffs one made by "fools and lapdogs," which should prove interesting given the justices' traditional front-row-centre seats.

Affordability: Trump's staff have been trying to pivot the president toward emphasizing economic and cost-of-living messages in his appearances. Their boss, however, tends to go off-script, and has expressed frustration that Americans don't seem to feel the economy is as great as he says it is.

Iran: Speculation is Trump could order airstrikes any day now, with a large U.S. Military presence in the region. Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and the president's son-in-law Jared Kushner are scheduled to meet with Iranian negotiators on Thursday in Geneva.

Elections: Concern is mounting among observers that his administration is laying the groundwork to interfere in this fall's midterms, which will determine which party controls Congress.

Canada?: Our country will come up at least peripherally, given the invitation to the men's Olympic hockey team who defeated Canada for Olympic gold Sunday. Sports aside, Trump has threatened to block the opening of a new bridge between Windsor, Ont., and Detroit, to impose tariffs on all Canadian-made aircraft, and to hit all Canadian goods with a 100-per-cent tariff if Canada "makes a deal with China."

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