Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Sunday that President Joe Biden should not have sought re-election in 2024 and that Democrats might have been better off if the decision had come sooner.
Speaking with NBC News host Kristen Welker, Buttigieg said of Biden’s choice: “He should not have run. And if he had made that decision sooner, we might have been better off.” He added that the decision was Biden’s alone and that the party must now focus on what comes next for both the Democratic movement and the country.
Welker pressed Buttigieg on whether he had personally urged Biden not to run and on whether it was reckless that others close to Biden had not done so. Buttigieg said he was not included in the internal process that led to Biden’s decision and reiterated that, in his view, Biden should have decided earlier.
Buttigieg framed the comments as part of a broader reckoning about the party’s future, saying that Democrats must concentrate on building “a different kind of future where people — not just politically, but nationally — where people can see themselves in what comes next.”
The remarks come amid renewed scrutiny following an excerpt from former Vice President Kamala Harris’ forthcoming memoir, 107 Days, in which she wrote that Biden’s choice to run again was “reckless.” In the excerpt published by The Atlantic, Harris wrote that deciding to run “wasn’t a choice that should have been left to an individual’s ego, an individual’s ambition.”
Harris’ public reflections carry additional political weight because she has said she will not run in 2026, a decision that observers say leaves open the possibility of pursuing the presidency in 2028. Her memoir excerpt and Buttigieg’s comments have sharpened internal debate among Democrats about responsibility for the 2024 campaign and how the party should regroup.
Some former Biden aides pushed back on Harris’ assessment. Several aides told Axios that Harris was attempting to scapegoat Biden rather than acknowledge shortcomings during her vice presidency. A former White House official quoted by Axios said Harris “had basically zero substantive role in any of the administration’s key work streams,” and accused her of staging photo opportunities that exposed gaps in her preparation for the role.
The public exchange illustrates tensions within the Democratic coalition as leaders and former aides reassess decisions made before and during the 2024 campaign. Buttigieg’s comments mark a notable departure from public displays of unity that often followed the 2020 and 2024 cycles, and they add to a chorus of criticism from inside the party about how candidate selection and succession were handled.
Democrats face practical choices about personnel, messaging and strategy as they consider future election cycles. Buttigieg said Sunday that attention should be on constructive planning rather than retrospective blame: “We are where we are,” he said, “and what matters now is how we build a different kind of future.”
The discussion touches on broader questions about leadership transitions and the role of senior advisers in advising presidents on fitness for office and electoral strategy. While some party figures and outside commentators have argued for earlier intervention in 2024, Buttigieg’s acknowledgment that Biden should not have run underscores continuing debate about accountability and political stewardship inside the Democratic Party.