Hillary Clinton said Joe Biden’s decision to run for re-election in 2024 was a “terrible mistake” that harmed himself, his legacy, and the country [1, 2, 3]. She said Biden had promised earlier to step aside but reneged, putting Democrats in a “terrible dilemma” [1]. Clinton argued if Biden had followed through and not run in late summer 2023, a competitive primary would have produced a nominee able to defeat Donald Trump [1, 2, 4, 3].
Biden, then 81 years old, struggled in the June 2024 presidential debate against Trump, prompting growing concerns about his health. Jill Biden later revealed she feared he was having a stroke during the debate [1, 2, 4, 3]. Despite the poor performance, Clinton publicly supported Biden the day after the debate on June 28, 2024 [3].
Biden ended his re-election campaign in late July 2024 after the debate backlash and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, who became the Democratic nominee [1, 2, 3]. Harris lost the November 2024 general election to Trump [1, 2]. Clinton attributed Harris’s defeat in part to the short campaign time after Biden’s late exit and Harris’s difficulty criticizing her former boss, saying “Some people didn’t want to hear anything from any candidate, especially somebody that he picked to be the vice-president, criticising him.” [2, 4]
A May 2025 report by left-leaning group Way to Win identified multiple structural and ideological problems behind the 2024 Democratic loss beyond Biden’s candidacy [1]. The Democratic National Committee issued a flawed autopsy on the defeat around the same time [1, 2, 4].
The timeline of events shows Clinton’s view that Biden should have stepped aside by late summer 2023 to allow a strong primary challenger to emerge [1, 3]. Biden’s debate struggles came in June 2024, followed by his withdrawal in late July and Harris’s general election loss in November 2024 [1, 2, 4, 3].
Clinton’s remarks mark a sharp post-election reassessment by a leading Democrat who supported Biden publicly until late June 2024, underscoring party tensions over how the 2024 campaign was conducted [3].
