Former first lady Jill Biden said Wednesday that she is not convinced she will live to see a woman elected president of the United States, while noting that she had once firmly believed former Vice President Kamala Harris would be the one to break that barrier.
Biden made the remarks during an appearance on Kelly Ripa’s podcast, “Let’s Talk Off Camera,” after Ripa asked whether she thought either of them would witness the country elect its first female president.
“In my lifetime? Well, I’m 75. So, you know, I feel like probably not in my lifetime, Kelly, but maybe in yours,” Biden replied.
The former first lady added that she had been certain Harris was poised to become the nation’s first woman president.
“But I really did think last time that Kamala was going to win. I mean, I was out on the campaign trail for her. I saw the excitement,” Biden said. “I saw the crowds. I saw, you know, at the convention. I mean, I saw all the energy and I thought, ‘Finally, we’re going to have a woman president.’”
Patrice Onwuka, vice president of economic policy at Independent Women, criticized Biden’s comments in a statement to Fox News Digital, calling them an insult to Democratic women with national ambitions.
“Jill Biden’s comments about never expecting to see a female president is a slap to the bench of female Democrats that have 2028 aspirations, like AOC and Gretchen Whitmer. The supposed party of women can’t even convince the former first lady of its prospects to elect a woman at the top of the ticket,” Onwuka said.
Onwuka also told Fox News Digital that Harris’ defeat was rooted in voters viewing her as a candidate tied to the political status quo.
“Kamala Harris blew a billion-dollar campaign chest and a coronation on the top of the presidential ticket to only lose. Perhaps it’s time to stop fixating on gender and take policy seriously. Democrats failed to make Americans’ lives better in 2024. They didn’t care about a first female president if she was just going to continue the status quo. This fate lays wait for any female candidate who cannot deliver economic mobility for regular Americans,” she added.
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Ripa said during the conversation she was “less hopeful” than the former first lady.
“I’m hoping that at a certain point, that that turns around. I don’t know what it’s going to take. I don’t think social media helps,” Ripa added. “I will always keep moving forward. I just, you know, I just feel like there has to be something internally. There’s got to be a messenger eventually that breaks through (to) the people.”
Former first lady Michelle Obama has also said she didn’t believe the US was ready for a female president.
In November, Obama told a crowd America “ain’t ready” to elect a woman, pointing to Harris’ loss to President Donald Trump in 2024.
Harris pushed back on the notion in December 2025.
“I do believe the country is ready,” Harris told The New York Times at the time.
“Thousands of people are coming to hear my voice. Thousands and thousands,” Harris said in the interview, referring to her book tour. “Every place we’ve gone has been sold out.”
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also pushed back on Obama’s remarks but said the US still needed to change.
When asked by CNN’s Anderson Cooper whether she agreed with the former first lady’s comments, Pelosi asked why a woman commander-in-chief would be out of the question.
“Well, I hope — I mean, I respect her and I know that view is one that we all are saddened by, but we — I think we have to change. The fact is that I‘ve heard every excuse in the book, you know, like, ‘I‘m not sure a woman could be commander-in-chief.’ Well, why not?” she asked.
“‘Well, I served in the military.’ Well, OK. And so? So do women serve in the military.”
