Trump could set a new record for the longest State of the Union speech in U.S. history.
WASHINGTON โ President Donald Trump may break records with his State of the Union address on Tuesday.ย
Trump on Monday told reporters that his State of the Union is “going to be a long speech, because we have so much to talk about.”ย
The president, infamous for his lengthy and often meandering stump speeches, is expected to address Congress at 9 p.m. Eastern for the constitutionally-mandated speech.
He already broke the record last year for the longest address to a joint session of Congress on March 4, 2025. And it wasnโt even close.
During that speech, he talked for nearly an hour and 40 minutes, breaking the previous record set by President Bill Clintonโs 2000 State of the Union address, which ran 1 hour, 28 minutes and 49 seconds.
Thatโs according to the American Presidency Project at the University of California at Santa Barbara, which has tracked speech length since President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964.
Trumpโs speech in 2025 was not technically a State of the Union since he only took office about six weeks before making it. But his lengthy address is nonetheless the longest offered to a joint session of Congress and broke Clinton’s record by nearly 11 minutes.ย
If you’re only counting the presidential speeches that weren’t officially a “State of the Union,” Trump’s was the longest by 34 minutes.ย
During Trump’s three State of the Union addresses, he had already come close to breaking the time record.
What were the longest State of the Union addresses?
Bill Clinton holds the title for the longest spoken State of the Union speech on record โ his 2000 address took one hour, 28 minutes and 49 seconds.ย
While George W. Bush and Barack Obama kept their State of the Union addresses to about 50 minutes and one hour, respectively, Trump came close to the record.ย
In fact, Clinton and Trump hold the top seven spots for longest modern State of the Union addresses. Clinton holds spots 1-2, 5, and 7, while Trump holds 3-4 and 6.ย
A different former president holds the record for longest written State of the Union address: Jimmy Carter with 33,667 words in 1981. Carter, whose spoken State of the Union addresses averaged about 37 minutes and 3,750 words, opted for a written-only version that year instead of the televised primetime address that had become standard.ย
- Bill Clinton (2000) 1:28:49
- Bill Clinton (1995) 1:24:58
- Donald Trump (2019) 1:22:25
- Donald Trump (2018) 1:20:32
- Bill Clinton (1999) 1:18:40
- Donald Trump (2020) 1:18:04
- Bill Clinton (1998) 1:16:43
- Joe Biden (2023) 1:13:00
- Lyndon B. Johnson (1967) 1:11:16
- Barack Obama (2010) 1:09:20
