Women will surround Trump at State of the Union address

WASHINGTON (AP) — Pelosi behind and above. Female immigrants, gazing down from the balcony. A black woman who ran a close race for governor of Georgia, rebutting.

When President Donald Trump delivers his first State of the Union address under divided government on Tuesday, he'll be surrounded by these and other living reminders of the 2018 elections that delivered Democrats the House majority and a record number of women to Congress.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will sit just over his shoulder on the dais, on-camera, looking out at the assembled lawmakers, Cabinet members, Supreme Court justices and diplomats. Seated in front of Trump will be a record number of women House members, most Democrats and some dressed in easy-to-spot white. And in the gallery overhead? Two former employees of Trump's New Jersey golf club, women and immigrants, who have spoken out about its hiring practices.

Afterward, Stacey Abrams will become the first black woman to deliver the Democratic rebuttal.

"I hope she does a good job. I respect her," Trump said Thursday of Abrams, who narrowly lost the race for Georgia governor to the president's ally, Brian Kemp. The president pledged to deliver a speech rooted in a theme of "unity," even as he renewed his demand for a border wall as a condition of keeping the government open past Feb. 15. Before he spoke in the Oval Office Thursday, Pelosi again rebuffed the demand and belittled him on national security matters.

Trump will give his speech Tuesday before a joint session of Congress at a sensitive time in talks to prevent agencies from shuttering after the longest government shutdown in history. Members of Congress are inviting federal workers who went without pay for 35 days and are worried about a repeat.