OAN Staff Katherine Mosack
11:54 AM – Wednesday, February 25, 2026
President Donald Trump has set a new record for the longest State of the Union (SOTU) address, surpassing both his own previous record and former President Bill Clinton’s year-2000 milestone.
Tuesday’s address lasted 108 minutes, or one hour and 48 minutes. According to the American Presidency Project, which has tracked these figures since 1964, this stands as the longest speech delivered to a joint session of Congress in at least 60 years.
This address topped Trump’s 99-minute speech from last March, which — while lengthy — was not an official State of the Union. Before 2026, the official record belonged to Clinton’s 2000 address at 89 minutes, or one hour and 29 minutes, followed by his 85-minute speech in 1995.
“My fellow Americans, each time I prepare for the State of the Union, I approach it with great hope and expectations for our nation. But tonight is special — because we stand on the mountaintop of a new millennium. Behind us, we see the great expanse of American achievement; before us, even grander frontiers of possibility,” Clinton said in his final State of the Union speech.
Modern presidents generally deliver longer annual messages than their predecessors. During the 1960s and 1970s, addresses typically clocked in under an hour. President Trump, however, has established a consistent track record for lengthy speeches—with or without a teleprompter—across his rallies, conferences, and official addresses.
Even before his record-breaking 2026 speech, he held the fourth and fifth-longest State of the Union spots for his 2019 (82 minutes) and 2018 (81 minutes) addresses, respectively.
The State of the Union is a tradition dating back to George Washington in 1790. It serves as a formal progress report where the president outlines his legislative agenda before a joint session of Congress. In contrast to modern marathons, Washington’s inaugural address remains the shortest in history at just 833 words.
Despite its brevity, it established the precedent for the speech by focusing on core priorities like national defense, foreign policy, and the growth of American agriculture and commerce.
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