Speaker Mike Johnson had set the over-under at 90 minutes. He probably should have gone higher.

President Donald Trump delivered his 2026 State of the Union address on Tuesday night and ran the clock to approximately one hour and 48 minutes, making it the longest speech before a joint session of Congress in at least 60 years, according to theAmerican Presidency Projectat the University of California, Santa Barbara, which has tracked the length of every presidential address to Congress since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964.

The record that fell belonged to Bill Clinton. His final State of the Union, delivered on 27 January 2000, ran 1 hour, 28 minutes, and 49 seconds and had held for more than two decades. Trump surpassed it by roughly 20 minutes,NPR said.

Trump had telegraphed the length himself. 'A long speech, because we have so much to talk about,' he said ahead of the address. Few expected he meant quite this long. His first-term State of the Union speeches averaged 80 minutes, already the highest average of any president. Tuesday's effort pushed well past even that,per PBS News.

President Donald J. Trump’s 2026 State of the Union Addresshttps://t.co/UqD2fvZOWV

Not surprised, just disappointed.DISGRACEFUL.https://t.co/r16hfl9c0b

What gives this record some additional texture is that Trump was already the benchmark coming in. His March 2025 address to Congress ran 100 minutes, eclipsing Clinton's 2000 mark. That speech was technically a joint address rather than a State of the Union, since it came only six weeks into his second term. Tuesday's address carried the official designation and went further still,according to Axios, clocking in at approximately 108 minutes.

Of the nine longest State of the Union addresses ever recorded, five now belong to Trump and four to Clinton,per CNBC. The gap between those two and everyone else is considerable. Barack Obama usually finished in about an hour. George W. Bush rarely crossed 50 minutes.

Richard Nixon, for context, still holds the other end of the spectrum. His shortest address, delivered in 1972, ran under 30 minutes.

The speech, themed 'America at 250: Strong, Prosperous and Respected,' began at 9:11 p.m. EST. Trump opened on the economy, and spent significant time ontariffs and affordability, the latter a subject he acknowledged is a top concern for Americans.

Source: International Business Times UK