Former first lady Jill Biden called former President Joe Biden a "hero" for withdrawing from the 2024 presidential race, saying he "gave up everything" in an interview with The Jamie Kern Lima Show.
She attributed the earlier push for Biden to seek re-election to Democratic Party officials and their long-serving staff — not herself. She confirmed that Biden had initially intended to serve only one term.
Following the 2022 midterm elections, when Republicans underperformed and Democrats exceeded expectations, Biden's advisers urged him to run again. "He's got to keep going," and "He has to run," Dr. Biden recalled them saying.
She hopes the "true story" will shape Biden's historical legacy. She criticized what she called "negative" people who "put whatever twist on it that they want, and mostly it's negative."
Nearly two years after Biden's June 27, 2024 debate against President Donald Trump, Dr. Biden revealed she was terrified watching him freeze, stumble and struggle to complete sentences. "I thought, 'Oh, my God, he's having a stroke,'" she told CBS News Sunday Morning in an interview with Rita Braver. "It scared me to death. I was frightened, because I had never ever seen Joe like that before or since."
Biden withdrew from the 2024 race shortly after that debate performance.
