Hillary Clinton is making headlines after delivering one of the sharpest public rebukes yet of former President Joe Biden’s decision to seek reelection in 2024, a decision she now says proved disastrous for both his legacy and the Democratic Party.
During a televised interview that aired Monday, Clinton did not mince words when reflecting on Biden’s ultimately unsuccessful campaign. According to the former secretary of state, Biden’s choice to remain in the race despite mounting concerns about his age, stamina, and political viability was a serious error that altered the course of the election.
“He made a terrible mistake. He made a terrible mistake for himself, his legacy, and for the country,” Clinton said. “He had said that he would not run again.”
The remarks represent a remarkable shift from Clinton’s public posture during the 2024 campaign. At the time, she was among the many high-profile Democrats urging party unity behind Biden, even as concerns about his fitness for office intensified. Now, nearly two years after President Trump’s return to the White House, Clinton appears to be joining a growing chorus of Democrats willing to openly question the decisions that led to the party’s defeat.
Clinton argued that Biden missed an opportunity to pass leadership to a younger generation of Democrats. She suggested that if he had announced in 2023 that he would not seek another term, the party could have held a competitive primary process that would have strengthened its eventual nominee.
“Counterfactual narratives are always a bit tricky,” Clinton acknowledged. “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.”
She went even further, expressing confidence that a fresh Democratic nominee could have defeated President Trump in the general election.
“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,” Clinton said.
The comments reopen a debate that has continued to simmer inside Democratic circles since the party’s loss in 2024. Biden’s campaign faced increasing scrutiny throughout that election cycle, particularly after his widely criticized debate performance against then-candidate Trump in June of that year. The event sparked alarm among Democratic donors, strategists, elected officials, and media allies who questioned whether Biden was capable of mounting a successful campaign.
For weeks following the debate, pressure mounted on the White House. Democratic leaders publicly defended Biden while privately discussing alternatives. The political crisis eventually reached a breaking point in July 2024 when Biden announced he was suspending his reelection campaign and endorsing then-Vice President Kamala Harris as his replacement.
While Harris quickly consolidated support and secured the Democratic nomination, the transition left the party with little time to regroup before the general election. President Trump ultimately defeated Harris and returned to the White House, marking one of the most dramatic political comebacks in modern American history.
Clinton’s latest criticism suggests that many Democrats are still wrestling with what went wrong. Reports in recent months have indicated that other prominent party figures have reached similar conclusions. Former Vice President Kamala Harris reportedly characterizes Biden’s decision as “recklessness” in her upcoming memoir, while other Democrats have argued that party leaders should have encouraged a more competitive primary process long before the campaign descended into crisis.
Adding to the controversy are reports that Clinton herself privately expressed concerns about Biden’s political prospects well before he exited the race. Testimony from former White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain reportedly indicated that Clinton had reservations about Biden’s ability to win another term even before the campaign collapsed.
The debate over Biden’s decision is likely to continue as Democrats search for answers following their 2024 defeat. For many in the party, the central question remains whether the election was lost because Biden stayed too long, or because Democratic leaders failed to prepare for the possibility that he would.
Clinton’s comments have ensured that conversation is far from over.
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