Jill Biden Says Joe Biden Would Have Beaten Trump, Acknowledges Party Pressure and Health Uncertainty

Former first lady Jill Biden said Tuesday that she believes former President Joe Biden would have defeated President Donald Trump if he had remained the Democratic nominee in 2024. “I believe he would have beat Donald Trump in that election,” she said during a morning interview on MSNBC’s Morning Joe.

Jill Biden has discussed the 2024 race in multiple media appearances while promoting her book View From The East Wing.

She said the period after Joe Biden dropped out of the race on July 21, 2024, was painful for the family, including their children and grandchildren. “I would never want anyone I loved to go through that again,” she said. ” She said it was difficult to hear prominent Democrats, including former President Barack Obama and Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, urge him to step aside.

Jill Biden also addressed comments in former Vice President Kamala Harris’s memoir 107 Days. Harris described Joe Biden’s decision to stay in the race as reckless and said the choice should not have been left to one person’s ego or ambition. “I was a little surprised that she wrote that,” Jill Biden said.

Joe Biden was diagnosed with stage four prostate cancer in May 2025, and the disease soon metastasized to his bones. Jill Biden said his health situation has been tough but that he is doing OK. “He’s still making speeches, he’s still on Amtrak a couple times a month, keeping his schedule,” she said.

She added that cancer takes its toll and that he gets tired a little more often.