Biden Family Pushes Back as Democrats Relitigate 2024 Defeat

A New York magazine report says Joe Biden, Jill Biden and Hunter Biden have launched an aggressive effort to rehabilitate the former president’s political legacy, but the campaign has triggered anger and soul-searching inside the Democratic Party. The debate intensified after Biden’s first public appearance in months, and after Jill Biden’s memoir was published in early June. The family’s effort also comes after the White House said in May 2025 that Biden, 83, had been diagnosed with metastatic prostate cancer that had spread to his bones.

The sharpest criticism comes from former Biden aides and Democratic insiders who blame him for refusing to leave the 2024 race sooner. One former senior campaign aide told the magazine, “It is incredibly hard to ever get over the fact that he is responsible for the hellscape we are living in now. It is undeniable that his arrogance cost us dearly.” On the other side, Rufus Gifford, a former campaign finance chairman who now heads Biden’s presidential library board, said the party is moving on: “Without question, every day that passes there is less hangover from ‘24. It’s not resolved, but there is less hangover and more nostalgia for normal times.”

David Axelrod said putting Biden back in the spotlight would remind voters “exactly why he was forced off the stage,” while Tomi Vitor accused Biden of viewing himself only as a victim and never seeing the country as the victim of his decisions. Jill Biden answered criticism from former White House press secretary Andrew Bates at a Washington event for her memoir, “East Wing,” saying, “Call me and tell me that to my face.” Hunter Biden also defended his father, saying, “They never really understood Joe Biden.”

The latest flashpoint was Biden’s speech on June 5, 2026, at the Democratic Party’s traditional McGovern Day dinner in South Dakota, held at a Best Western hotel near the airport in Sioux Falls and attended by about 1,200 supporters. Biden called Donald Trump “the most corrupt president in the history of the United States.” According to the report, he spoke softly at times, shouted at others, and occasionally lost his train of thought, though he still received a warm reception. He joked that he left early for his goddaughter’s wedding, saying, “So when I’m running off the stage, it’s not because I’m afraid to hear the reaction.”