Jill Biden Defends Husband Joe's 2024 Reelection Bid After 'Hurtful' Health Concerns: 'It Had to Be His Decision Alone'

Former First Lady Jill Biden defended her decision to support former President Joe Biden's 2024 reelection bid, stating that the ultimate choice to run or step down "had to be his decision alone" because he had to live with it for the rest of his life.

Speaking with Craig Melvin on the Today show to promote her memoir, View From the West Wing, she reflected on the immense hurt and pain the family felt during that period, but emphasized that she could not make such a profound choice for her husband.

The 74-year-old former FLOTUS' recent media tour has illuminated the intense private conversations and fears surrounding the end of the Biden presidency.

She admitted that watching her husband's verbal stumbles during the June 2024 debate against Donald Trump "scared [her] to death," confessing that she privately thought, "Oh my God, he’s having a stroke.

Despite her internal panic, she publicly praised the now-83-year-old's performance immediately after the debate to lift him as her husband. She stated that she still does not know exactly what caused the poor performance that night.

While maintaining that he possessed the "essence of the same Joe Biden," she acknowledged that he was naturally slowing down and aging under the intense pressure of the office.

She noted that while the family provided input, the final choice to withdraw from the race in late July 2024 was entirely Joe's.

“As I look back, would I want to put Joe through the hurt and the pain that we felt during that time? Never,” she said. “It was so hurtful. It had to be his decision. It had to be his decision alone because he had to live with that decision the rest of his life.”

The revelations in Jill’s memoir have reignited intense public debate over the Biden administration's transparency during the 2024 election cycle.

Right-wing critics have criticized the former first lady, accusing her and close aides of enabling or covering up the former president's physical and cognitive decline before it was too late.

“He aged,” Jill said on Today. “He did. He got older. We all saw him aging. There were the words that he would forget, but we were all aging.”

“The doctors assured us he was healthy,” she explained. “And I saw him doing the job every single day. Every single day, he got up, he went into the office, he did the job, and he passed bipartisan legislation. I saw him work hours into the night. Yes, did I see him slowing down a little bit when he got tired? Did he stutter a little bit at night? Yeah, sure, but he was still doing the job, and he was doing a good job.”

Close allies like former President Bill Clinton have defended Joe’s legacy, stating they never witnessed a level of decline that made him unfit for office.

The 46th POTUS ultimately ended his campaign on July 21, 2024, endorsing Kamala Harris. The former vice president went on to lose the general election to Trump, a loss Jill called shocking.

In May 2025, it was publicly revealed that the former president is battling stage 4 prostate cancer that has metastasized to his bones.

Jill said that Joe’s initial diagnosis was "shocking,” noting that White House doctors had previously skipped standard PSA blood tests because medical guidelines suggest men over 70 do not routinely need them.

“He’s doing OK,” she said. “I think if he had just been diagnosed with prostate cancer, that’s one thing because that can be cured, but the fact that it metastasized to his bones, that makes it a whole different story. And so I think Joe will live with cancer for the rest of his life.”