Joe Biden Says He Would Not Have Run for a Second Term If He Had Known He Had Cancer
Joe Biden has said he would not have run for a second term as president of the United States if he had known he had cancer. The former president made the remark in a new interview with People magazine, published on 11 November 2026, ahead of the release of his White House memoir, “Promise Me, America”, next week.
Biden, who is 83 and turns 84 on 20 November, said he did not know he had cancer while he was in office. He was diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer in May 2025, about four months after he left the White House.
“If I had known that I was feeling lousy because I had cancer, I would have resigned. I would’ve not gone forward, because I don’t think an 80-year-old man with cancer should be running for (president),” Biden told People.
The comment is the clearest statement yet from Biden about how his illness would have changed his decision to seek re-election in 2024 — a campaign that ended in July that year after a disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump.
What Biden Said
In the interview, Biden spoke openly about his health, his age, and the decision that ended his re-election campaign. He said he had felt unwell at times during his presidency but did not know the cause.
“If I had known that I was feeling lousy because I had cancer,” he said, “I would’ve not gone forward.”
He added that he still believes he was the right person for the job at the time. “I believe that on an objective basis, I was the best-equipped person to do the job,” he said.
Biden also pushed back against the idea that his age alone should have ruled him out. He said age was not disqualifying, and that his decades in public life gave him experience and deep personal relationships with world leaders.
At the same time, he was blunt about the limits he would have set for himself. “I don’t think an 80-year-old man with cancer should be running” for president, he said.
The interview was published just days before his memoir, “Promise Me, America”, is released on Tuesday, 17 November 2026. The book covers his four years in the White House and the difficult decision to end his re-election bid.
The Diagnosis That Came After He Left Office
Biden’s cancer was made public in May 2025, months after his presidency ended on 20 January 2025. His office announced that he had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer that had spread to his bones.
Prostate cancer is a cancer of the prostate gland, a small gland in men that helps make semen. When doctors say the cancer has “metastasised”, they mean it has spread from where it started to other parts of the body. In Biden’s case, it had spread to his bones, which is why it is described as stage 4, or advanced, cancer.
Since the diagnosis, Biden has completed radiation treatment and begun hormone therapy, a common treatment that slows the growth of prostate cancer by reducing the levels of hormones that feed it.
His son Hunter Biden told the BBC in August 2026 that the cancer had spread further and was causing his father pain. “It’s very painful and it’s very debilitating in many respects,” Hunter Biden said.
His office has said Biden’s last known prostate cancer screening took place in 2014, when he was 71 and serving as vice president. Screening tests can find cancer early, but they are not always done in older men, because doctors weigh the benefits against the risks of treatment.
The Debate That Changed the Race
Biden’s re-election campaign unravelled after a televised debate against Donald Trump in June 2024. Biden was 81 at the time. During the debate he appeared confused at points and struggled to put his case clearly. The performance alarmed many Democrats and turned his age into the central issue of the campaign.
Within weeks, pressure from inside his own party grew. On 21 July 2024, Biden announced he was ending his campaign and endorsed his vice president, Kamala Harris. She secured the Democratic nomination but lost the general election to Trump.
In the People interview, Biden played down the importance of the debate itself. He said he had expected there to be another debate, which never happened.
“First of all, I thought there’d be another debate, which there wasn’t,” he said. “But notwithstanding the fact that there wasn’t another debate, it didn’t disturb me because it wasn’t consequential.”
His view is that the debate was not the real turning point — even though most political observers see it as the moment his campaign became impossible to save. The interview suggests Biden still believes the debate mattered less than the wider doubts about his age that it confirmed in voters’ minds.
Why His Age Became the Central Issue
Age was the biggest question hanging over Biden’s presidency from the start. When he took office in January 2021, he was 78 — the oldest person ever to become president of the United States. By the time of the 2024 election, he was 81. If he had won a second term, he would have been 86 by the time it ended.
His supporters argued that his experience was an asset. He had spent nearly 50 years in public life, including eight years as vice president under Barack Obama and 36 years as a senator from Delaware. They said that experience helped him pass major laws and manage crises.
His critics argued that voters could see the effects of age in his public appearances — slower speech, occasional confusion, and fewer unscripted events. The June 2024 debate gave those critics their strongest evidence.
The new interview shows Biden is aware of how the argument looked from the outside. His remark that “an 80-year-old man with cancer should [not] be running” is an admission that, with the knowledge he has now, he would have agreed with his critics and stepped aside.
What He Says About His Health Now
Biden told People that he is feeling good despite his age and his diagnosis. “I’m not saying I’ll live forever, but the point is that I have all my faculties,” he said.
That is a direct answer to the questions about his mental sharpness that followed him through the 2024 campaign and after. During the campaign, critics and some Democrats questioned whether he was still able to do the job. Biden has consistently insisted that he was able to perform his duties while he was in office.
His current treatment — radiation, now finished, and ongoing hormone therapy — is designed to control the cancer rather than cure it. Prostate cancer that has spread to the bones is usually treated as a long-term condition that doctors try to keep under control, rather than one they expect to remove completely.
Biden’s openness about the illness is unusual for a former president. His memoir and this interview are the first time he has spoken at length about how the diagnosis has changed the way he looks back at his decision to run again.
The Hunter Biden Pardon
The interview also touched on one of the most controversial decisions of Biden’s final weeks in office: his pardon of his son Hunter Biden.
Hunter Biden had been convicted in 2024 on federal gun charges and had pleaded guilty to federal tax charges. In December 2024, weeks before leaving office, the president pardoned him — a decision that drew criticism even from some Democrats, because Biden had previously said he would not use his pardon power for his son.
In the interview, Biden defended the pardon. He said he acted because he believed Donald Trump would use the power of the presidency to go after his family and others connected to him.
“He goes after people without any basis, whether they’re viewed as an enemy. I knew what he would do,” Biden said. “If I hadn’t pardoned — not just some of my family members, anyone who’s dealt with me — he would go back and try to do harm to them.”
Hunter Biden has said the pardon damaged his father’s legacy, but the former president stood by the decision. He called his son “one of the brightest men I know” and said, “I’m really proud of him.”
Since leaving office, Hunter Biden has become a more public figure, arguing with Republicans on social media, posting long messages about the direction of the country, and launching his own cryptocurrency.
What the Memoir Is About
“Promise Me, America” is Biden’s account of his presidency, from taking office in January 2021 to the decision to step aside in July 2024. The book is due out on Tuesday, 17 November 2026.
The People interview is part of the publicity for the book, and it gives a preview of its themes: the achievements Biden is proud of, the personal cost of the presidency, and his reflections on the 2024 campaign.
Memoirs by former presidents are always closely watched, because they often contain the author’s version of events that were controversial at the time. Biden’s book is likely to be read closely for what he says about the people around him in 2024 — the advisers and family members who encouraged him to run again, and the Democrats who eventually pushed him to step aside.
Why This Matters
Biden’s remark matters for three reasons.
First, it is the closest he has come to saying he made the wrong call in 2024. Until now, he has defended his decision to run again and argued that he could have beaten Trump. Now he has said plainly that a cancer diagnosis would have changed his mind.
Second, it adds to the debate inside the Democratic Party about what went wrong in 2024. The party lost the White House, and many Democrats believe the decision to run Biden again — and the late switch to Harris, just 107 days before the election — cost them the race. Biden’s own words will now be quoted in that argument.
Third, it raises a wider question about age and health in American politics. The United States has had two of its oldest presidents in a row, and voters are increasingly asking how much they should know about a leader’s health before an election. Biden’s case — a serious illness that was not found until after he left office — is likely to fuel calls for more open health reporting by candidates.
For now, Biden says he is focused on his health and his family. But his memoir, and interviews like this one, mean the argument about 2024 is not over yet.
Frequently Asked Questions
What did Joe Biden say about his cancer and the 2024 election?
Biden told People magazine that if he had known he had cancer, he would not have sought a second term in 2024. He said: “I don’t think an 80-year-old man with cancer should be running” for president.
When was Biden diagnosed with cancer?
He was diagnosed in May 2025, about four months after leaving office. The cancer is an aggressive form of prostate cancer that has spread to his bones.
Did Biden know he had cancer while he was president?
No, according to Biden himself. He said he did not know he had cancer while he was in office, and that he had felt unwell without knowing the cause.
What is Biden’s memoir called, and when is it out?
The book is called “Promise Me, America”. It is released on Tuesday, 17 November 2026.
How old is Joe Biden?
He is 83 and turns 84 on 20 November 2026. He was 81 during the June 2024 debate against Donald Trump.
What happened in the 2024 election after Biden dropped out?
Biden ended his campaign on 21 July 2024 and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris. She won the Democratic nomination but lost the general election to Donald Trump.
Conclusion
Joe Biden’s interview is a remarkable moment of honesty from a former president about the biggest decision of his political life. He now says that knowing about his cancer would have stopped him from running again in 2024 — an admission that will shape how history judges his presidency and the Democratic Party’s defeat.
Whether his critics are satisfied is another matter. Many will say the question was never only about cancer, but about age and fitness for office — questions Biden still insists he answered while he was in the job. What is clear is that the former president himself now believes the facts, as he understands them today, point to a different decision.
His memoir, out next week, will give him the chance to make that case in full.
Sources
- CNN — Joe Biden cancer book interview: https://www.cnn.com/2026/11/11/politics/joe-biden-cancer-book-interview
- The Korea Times (AP) — Biden says he wouldn’t have run for second term in 2024 if he knew he had cancer: https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/amp/world/20261112/biden-says-he-wouldnt-have-run-for-second-term-in-2024-if-he-knew-he-had-cancer
- USA Today — Joe Biden gives update on cancer battle: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2026/11/11/joe-biden-discusses-cancer-battle-midterms-trump/92724354007/
- New York Post — Joe Biden claims he would have resigned if he knew he had cancer while president: https://nypost.com/2026/11/11/us-news/joe-biden-claims-he-would-have-resigned-if-he-knew-he-had-cancer-while-president/
This article is for general information and education only. It is not legal or financial advice.
