Democratic governor concedes Biden not 'strongest communicator in chief,' party was 'hampered' by him

Democratic Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey said during an interview with The New York Times that the Democratic Party was "hampered" by having former President Joe Biden as the party's "communicator in chief" at the time, and conceded that it hurt the party in the election.

"I think the party was hampered by having President Biden as the communicator in chief, if I’m being honest. He wasn’t the strongest communicator in chief, and that hurt us because they weren’t able to sell all of the important accomplishments effectively," she told The New York Times' Lulu Garcia-Navarro. 

Healey urged the former president, who eventually dropped out of his re-election campaign before endorsing former Vice President Kamala Harris, to "carefully evaluate" his path forward following his June debate performance, which prompted a number of Democrats to demand Biden drop out.

"Are we grappling with what happened and having to deal with it right now? You better believe it. We’ve got Donald Trump in the White House. I think it was very hard for Kamala Harris, who I thought ran a fantastic campaign, to be able to overcome the disadvantage within the time that she was allotted," she added. 

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Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey held a morning press conference announcing significant action related to the state's emergency shelter system. (Photo by Jonathan Wiggs/The Boston Globe via Getty Images) (Photo by Jonathan Wiggs/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

"And I think it would have been a different story if the president had decided a few years ago that he was going to do what he said he would do, which is serve one term. Then we’d have the opportunity for full engagement in a primary and the like. That didn’t happen. I have no interest in further spending time on it, revisiting history. I’m focused on the now," Healey said. 

One of Biden's top advisors, Mike Donilon, was recently called out for suggesting the former president should have remained in the race and calling out the party for melting down after his debate performance. 

President Donald Trump recently revealed the details of a conversation he had with the former president. Trump said that Biden blamed former President Barack Obama and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for Harris' election loss.

"I asked him, I said, ‘So who do you blame?’ Because he was very angry, you know, he was a very angry guy, actually," Trump told The Spectator. "And he said, ‘I blame Barack.’ And I never think of him as ‘Barack.’ You know, you always hear 'Obama.' You say, you have to think about that for a second. And he said, ‘and I also blame Nancy Pelosi.’"

President-elect Donald Trump, left, greets President Joe Biden at the 60th Presidential Inauguration in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025.  (Kenny Holston/The New York Times via AP, Pool)

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Members of the Democratic Party have been scrambling to figure out where they went wrong after Harris' loss to Trump. Pelosi, who is seen as a major force behind getting Biden to drop out, notably suggested that Biden should have dropped out earlier.

"Had the president gotten out sooner, there may have been other candidates in the race," Pelosi said in November. "And as I say, Kamala may have, I think she would have done well in [a primary] and been stronger going forward. But we don’t know that. That didn’t happen. We live with what happened."

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Biden's team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.