Biden tells 'The View' he wasn't surprised Harris lost, blames sexism and racism

Former President Joe Biden said he wasn't surprised that former Vice President Kamala Harris lost to President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election, blaming the loss on sexism and racism.

Co-host Sara Haines asked the president if he was surprised Harris lost to Trump in November, noting optimism among Democrats after Biden decided to exit the race. 

"I wasn’t surprised, not because I didn’t think the vice president was the most qualified person to be president. She is. She’s qualified to be president of the United States of America. I was surprised, I was surprised because they went the route of, the sexist route, the whole route. I mean, this is a woman, she’s this, she’s that. I mean, it really, I’ve never seen quite as successful and a consistent campaign undercutting the notion that a woman couldn’t lead the country, and a woman of mixed race," Biden responded.

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"Anyway, make a long story short, all kidding aside, think about it. Liberal democracies lost last time out, all across America. I think we underestimate the phenomenal negative impact that COVID had, and the pandemic had on people, on attitudes, on optimism, on a whole range of things, so I was very disappointed and – but I wasn’t surprised. The only thing that surprised me was the excess to which they’ve gone in some of the attacks they’ve made," Biden continued. 

After Biden exited the race on July 21, roughly a month after a disastrous debate performance against Trump, he endorsed Harris to take his spot on the ticket. 

Biden was asked if he had spoken to Harris lately about her next steps. The former president said Harris has sought his opinion on the next step, but would not reveal what it is.

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Biden's sit-down with "The View" came after the president sat for an interview with the BBC, during which he spoke about Trump's foreign policy as well as his decision to leave the race when he did. 

The former president told the BBC that it wouldn't have "mattered" if he got out of the race sooner. 

"We left at a time when we had a good candidate," Biden said, speaking of Harris.

"It was a hard decision," Biden told the outlet of his decision to exit the race. "I think it was the right decision. It was just a difficult decision."

Biden argued his term was so successful, it was difficult to hand over leadership to a new generation immediately, as he'd initially intended. 

"What we had set out to do, no one thought we could do," he said. "I'd become so successful in our agenda, it was hard to say, ‘I’m going to stop now.' I meant what I said when I started, that I'm preparing to hand this to the next generation, the transition of government. Things moved so quickly that it made it difficult to walk away."