Joe Biden’s SOTU Speech Shorter Than Any of Donald Trump’s

President Joe Biden’s roughly 68-minute State of the Union address Thursday night was shorter than any delivered by former President Donald Trump during his time in office.

Biden delivered the annual speech before Congress, in which he sought to tout his accomplishments from the last year on a range of topics, including the economy and lowering prescription drug prices. The speech, in which the president did not shy away from crucial election issues including immigration and the economy, gave him the opportunity to address concerns about his mental fitness and more amid the 2024 presidential race.

The address comes as he seeks to make his reelection case to the American people. Biden appears poised to secure the Democratic presidential nomination, setting up a likely rematch against former President Donald Trump in November. Republicans, meanwhile, have used the address to call attention to what they view as blunders from the administration over the economy and foreign policy.

Trump’s longest address was in 2019, when he spoke for about an hour and 22 minutes. He spoke an hour and 20 minutes in 2018 and an hour and 18 minutes in 2020.

In 2017, Trump delivered a speech to a joint session of Congress that lasted about an hour, but it was not an official State of the Union.

Biden, 81, faced high stakes heading into the speech, as he needed a strong performance to quell concerns about his mental capacity at a high-profile event expected to be viewed by millions of voters. Polls have shown voters remain concerned about Biden’s age, though he has maintained he remains fit to serve another four years.

The speech ran shorter than his address last year, when he spoke for an hour and 13 minutes. Biden’s address lasted about an hour and five minutes minutes in 2021 and about an hour and two minutes in 2022, according to the American Presidency Project at UC Santa Barbara.

Former President Bill Clinton holds the record for the longest SOTU address, speaking for an hour and 28 minutes in 2000.

Heading into the speech, Biden was behind in several polls of battleground states.

Biden’s age was expected to be under a microscope during the address, as he is the oldest U.S. president in history. Trump, at 77, has similarly faced questions about his mental fitness to serve another four years if he returns to the Oval Office after the November election.

Barbara Perry, presidential historian at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center, previously told Newsweek that Biden’s performance was crucial “because of the age issue and what the polls are saying.”

The president’s physician, Kevin O’Conner, wrote in a summary of his annual physical late last month that Biden is “a healthy, active, robust 81-year-old male, who remains fit to successfully execute the duties of the Presidency.”