Former first lady Jill Biden offered a rare glimpse into the personal dynamics between her husband and former Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday, insisting the two remain “friends” even after Harris publicly criticized Biden’s decision to seek reelection.
Speaking at a Washington, D.C., book event at the Sixth & I synagogue, Jill Biden told journalist Paola Ramos that Harris recently called the former president. “They’re still friends. … They talk, she calls him, or he calls her,” she said, adding, “You have to understand Joe as a man. I mean, he doesn’t… hold grudges.”
The comments come as Jill Biden promotes her new memoir, View from the East Wing, released Tuesday. The book has already stirred internal Democratic debate over the 2024 campaign, as detailed in coverage of the memoir’s fallout.
In her own book, 107 Days, Harris wrote that Biden’s decision to run again was a mistake, calling it “recklessness” driven by ego and ambition. “The stakes were simply too high. This wasn’t a choice that should have been left to an individual’s ego,” she wrote. At the time, Harris publicly backed her boss, but her post-election account painted a different picture.
Biden’s disastrous debate performance against President Trump in June 2024 triggered a wave of Democratic defections, eventually forcing him to drop out in July. Harris then ascended to the nomination without a primary, campaigned for three months, and lost to Trump in November. It was her second failed presidential bid.
Despite the loss, Harris has left the door open to another run in 2028. In April, she told the Rev. Al Sharpton at the National Action Network conference that she was “thinking” about it. “Listen, I might,” she said.
A recent Emerson College poll of likely Democratic primary voters shows Harris tied for fourth with Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, each at 10 percent. She trails Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (11 percent), California Governor Gavin Newsom (16 percent), and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg (18 percent). Nearly 20 percent of respondents were undecided.
When asked whether she thinks Harris should run again, Jill Biden demurred. “Oh, I don’t know,” she told Ramos.
The former first lady’s defense of her husband’s character comes as some Democrats continue to question his handling of the 2024 race. Senator Chris Murphy recently admitted Biden should have skipped the race, urging the party to engage in self-criticism. Meanwhile, Jill Biden has pushed back against critics, challenging them directly in public appearances.
