EXCLUSIVE: Trump to center SOTU on working families with sweeping economic case

The 2026 address will be forward-looking but rooted in what the White House described as measurable progress on cost-of-living pressures, with Trump expected to list off statistics and data on the economy following the sky-high inflation rates of the Biden administration, while showcasing everyday Americans who have benefited from Trump policies, Fox News Digital learned. 

"In one year, President Trump has turned our country around from the brink of disaster, and he will rightly declare the State of Our Union is strong, prosperous and respected," she continued. "The president will proudly tout his administration's many record-breaking accomplishments, and also layout an ambitious agenda to continue bringing the American Dream back for working people."

The economy is a top concern for voters as they prepare to vote for a new Congress in November, which follows Democrats' 2025 winning campaign strategy around "affordability." 

Across Trump's first year of his second administration, the president's economic vision has focused on evening the U.S. trade field with tariffs, "unleashing" U.S. energy in the oil, coal and natural gas sectors, lowering drug costs on consumers, as well as other efforts aimed at Trump's vision of ushering in a "golden age" for the U.S. 

Trump is expected to tout his efforts to lower drug costs Tuesday, including giving a shoutout to the White House's recent launch of TrumpRx.gov, which aims to deliver the lowest-priced pharmaceuticals to American patients. 

A White House official told Fox News Digital that Trump invited guests tied to the various economic initiatives in his speech, including Catherine Rayner of Norfolk, Virginia. Rayner and her husband have been navigating fertility complications and in vitro fertilization for five years, with Rayner becoming the first patient of the portal earlier in February when it rolled out. 

The couple's spending on fertility medications dropped from roughly $4,000 to $500 under the program, Fox Digital learned. 

The president is expected to invoke his well-known populist tone in the speech, including to speak out against "special interest groups" that have been entrenched in power despite "ripping off" and leaving working Americans behind, a White House official told Fox News Digital. 

The president also will reflect on how policies within the "big, beautiful bill" have benefited everyday Americans, Fox News Digital learned. 

The president also invited Pennsylvania mom Megan Hemhouser to the speech, who spends her days homeschooling her two children and working as a waitress in the evenings. 

She and her husband, a heavy machinery operator, have benefited from a $5,000 increase in take-home pay due to Trump's "no tax on tips," and "no tax on overtime" policies under the bill, Fox News Digital learned. 

Trump's speech comes after the Supreme Court delivered a blow to his tariff policies Friday, with the court invalidating his use of an emergency law to impose sweeping tariffs on most U.S. trading partners. 

Trump's speech is expected to predominantly focus on domestic economic policies, but will be backdropped by world events, including heightened tensions between the U.S. and Iran as potential strikes loom, and Russia's ongoing war on Ukraine. 

Democrats have spoken out against Trump's domestic and foreign policies at most political turns in the past 13 months and have staged protest stunts during Trump's previous State of the Union addresses.

Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, for example, tore up Trump's 2020 speech, and Texas Rep. Al Green heckled Trump during his joint address in 2025, ultimately leading to Green's ejection. 

Democrats are again expected to show their resistance to the administration. However, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has urged colleagues to tone down protests. 

"The two options that are in front of us in our House (are) to either attend with silent defiance or to not attend and send a message to Donald Trump in that fashion, which will include participation in a variety of different alternate programming that is going to take place in and around the Capitol complex," Jeffries told reporters earlier in February. 

The address marks Trump's fourth as president since 2018, and his first State of the Union under his second administration. 

"The American dream is unstoppable, and our country is on the verge of a comeback, the likes of which the world has never witnessed and perhaps will never witness again. There's never been anything like it," Trump said during his 2025 address. 

Fox News Digital's Amanda Macias contributed to this report.