Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is drawing attention after sharply criticizing former President Joe Biden’s decision to seek a second term in 2024, calling the ultimately unsuccessful reelection effort “a terrible mistake” that damaged both his legacy and the Democratic Party’s electoral prospects.
Clinton’s comments represent one of the most direct criticisms of Biden from a prominent Democratic Party figure since the party’s loss to President Donald Trump in the 2024 election. During an interview aired Monday, Clinton said Biden’s decision to remain in the race despite growing concerns about his age and political standing proved costly not only for his own reputation but also for the country.
“He made a terrible mistake. He made a terrible mistake for himself, his legacy, and for the country,” she said. “He had said that he would not run again.”
“Counterfactual narratives are always a bit tricky. But I believe 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 continued, “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.”
‘So I think it was a terrible miscalculation on the part of President Biden. But once he didn’t move and did not, you know, admit that he had said he was going to step aside and then decided not to, and held on for as long as he did, we were in a terrible dilemma,” she finished.
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The remarks come nearly two years after Biden’s turbulent 2024 campaign collapsed following mounting concerns about his age and fitness for office. Questions surrounding Biden intensified after his widely criticized debate performance against then-candidate Donald Trump in June 2024. The debate sparked panic among Democratic strategists, donors and elected officials, many of whom privately and publicly urged Biden to step aside.
At the time, Clinton publicly defended Biden and urged Democrats to remain united behind him. Following the debate, she argued that the election remained a clear choice between Biden and Trump and reaffirmed her support for the incumbent president.
However, Biden’s campaign ultimately unraveled as pressure mounted within the Democratic Party. In July 2024, he announced that he would suspend his reelection bid and endorsed then-Vice President Kamala Harris as the party’s nominee. Harris went on to secure the Democratic nomination but was defeated by Trump in the general election.
Clinton’s latest comments appear to reflect a broader reassessment taking place within Democratic circles. In recent months, a growing number of prominent Democrats have acknowledged that Biden’s decision to run again may have contributed to the party’s defeat. Former Vice President Kamala Harris reportedly described the decision as “recklessness” in her forthcoming memoir, while several other Democratic figures have similarly questioned whether the party should have held a more competitive primary process.
The former secretary of state had reportedly harbored concerns about Biden’s political viability well before the 2024 campaign reached its breaking point. According to testimony cited during congressional investigations into the Biden White House, former chief of staff Ron Klain told investigators that Clinton privately expressed concerns about Biden’s electoral prospects before he dropped out of the race.
Those revelations added to reports that several senior Democratic figures were increasingly worried about Biden’s ability to win another term even before the disastrous debate performance that ultimately accelerated calls for his withdrawal.
The renewed scrutiny of Biden’s 2024 decision underscores the continuing debate within the Democratic Party over what went wrong in an election that returned Trump to the White House. Many Democrats have argued that concerns about Biden’s age and stamina should have been addressed earlier, while others maintain that party leaders failed to create a viable alternative before the campaign reached a crisis point.
