Hillary Clinton told a New York City audience that Joe Biden’s decision to try for reelection in 2024 was a “terrible mistake,” arguing the Democrats would have beaten Donald Trump if the party had held a competitive process instead of ending up with Kamala Ha
Hillary Clinton didn’t mince words Monday night in New York City, laying the blame for Democrats’ 2024 outcome at Joe Biden’s feet—starting with a decision she called reckless for both the former president and the country.
Clinton joined New Yorker editor in chief David Remnick for a sit-down discussion. weighing how Democrats “stumbled” in a way that allowed President Donald Trump to get reelected. “He made a terrible mistake. He made a terrible mistake for himself, his legacy, and for the country,” Clinton said as she began.
She argued that the critical error wasn’t just that Biden eventually stepped away—it was that he didn’t step away early enough. and didn’t follow through on what she said he had already signaled. Clinton said Biden had claimed he would not run again, then pushed back on that promise. “He had said that he would not run again. ” she continued. while adding that “counterfactual narratives are always a bit tricky.”.
But Clinton’s point came in plain terms. “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 said. In her view. that contest would have produced a nominee capable of beating Trump: “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.”.
Clinton then pivoted to what she described as the trap the party fell into after Biden delayed. “So I think it was a terrible miscalculation on the part of President Biden,” she said. And once he didn’t change course the way she believed he should have. she argued the Democrats were left in a “terrible dilemma.”.
That dilemma, in Clinton’s telling, was set in motion by Biden’s sequence of decisions in 2024. Biden dropped out of the election in July after a June debate against Trump that left pundits and observers questioning Biden’s mental fitness. When Biden exited, his vice president, Kamala Harris, replaced him on the ticket without a primary process. Harris then went on to lose the general election to Trump as he swept every swing state.
Clinton’s remarks landed as a direct verdict on what she sees as a missed moment inside the Democratic Party—one she believes could have turned an election outcome that ended with Trump reelected into something else entirely.
Hillary Clinton Joe Biden 2024 election Kamala Harris Donald Trump New York City Democrats primary process presidential reelection