Hillary Clinton blamed Biden’s reelection bid for Democrats’ 2024 loss to President Donald Trump in a Monday interview with The New Yorker editor David Remnick.
Clinton called Biden’s decision to run again “a terrible mistake,” arguing that Democrats could have clinched the win if Biden had stepped aside to allow for a competitive primary.
“He made a terrible mistake for himself, his legacy, and for the country,” Clinton said. She stated that Biden had initially said he would not run again before changing plans.
“I believe that if he had kept to that plan and said in, say, the late summer of ’23 that he wasn’t going to run that he was going to pass you know the torch to the next generation, we would have had a real contest,” Clinton said.
“And very sadly I believe whoever emerged from that contest, whether it was the vice president or a governor or a senator or anybody else, would have beaten Donald Trump,” she added. (RELATED: ‘We Are In A Crisis Right Now’: Cory Booker Blasts The State Of The Democratic Party)
Clinton emphasized that leading Democratic figures could not convince Biden to withdraw his bid by “going public,” saying that the president only considered withdrawing after seeing the polls and “after a horrendous public disaster.” Clinton was referring to a June 2024 presidential debate in which Biden froze in the middle of a comment and falsely stated that no U.S. troops had perished under his watch during the withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Remnick pressed Clinton on whether people had tried to approach Biden to ask him not to run.
Hillary Clinton said former President Joe Biden made a “terrible mistake” by running for reelection in 2024, arguing another Democratic nominee would have defeated President Trump had the party held a competitive primary.
“He made a terrible mistake for himself, his legacy and… pic.twitter.com/6yakfsCMfv
— CBS News (@CBSNews) June 16, 2026
“I know of a few people who tried that, and they were met with total denial and not just from him but from the people around him,” Clinton responded. “There was a belief, and it was strongly held inside the White House that he would win again.”
“After the debate, I think they were in a state of sort of disbelief about what happened,” she added. Clinton said she thought Biden had possibly taken medication for a cold or a virus when she initially watched the debate.
Clinton admitted that Biden’s age might be an issue for his reelection campaign as early as May 2023. But at the time, she did not seem to think it would be an insurmountable obstacle.
“His age is an issue, and people have every right to consider it,” Clinton told the Financial Times (FT) when the outlet asked about Biden’s falls down stairs.
“But he has this great saying, and I think he’s right. Don’t judge him by running against the Almighty, but against the alternative. And I am of the camp that I think he’s determined to run. He has a good record that three years ago people would not have predicted would have gotten done,” she continued.
“I obviously hope he stays very focused and able to compete in the election because I think he could be reelected, and that’s what we should all hope for,” Clinton added.
Biden withdrew from the race in July 2024, endorsing then Vice President Kamala Harris to be the new Democratic candidate for president. Democrats chose not to have an open primary after he dropped out.
The Democratic National Convention’s autopsy of Harris’ 2024 run for president was leaked last month. The largely incomplete document was missing major themes of the race, including women’s sports, pronouns, inflation, podcasts, and ‘Make America Healthy Again.’