Hunter Biden, the former president's son and a man who received a presidential pardon from his own father, sat for an interview this week in which he declared himself "disappointed" in Democratic leadership on Capitol Hill, and anointed California Gov. Gavin Newsom as the party's fiercest champion heading into 2028.
The remarks, posted to social media Tuesday via an interview with MeidasTouch's Luke Radel, amount to a public airing of Democratic frustration from one of the party's most controversial figures. Hunter Biden named Newsom, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro as potential 2028 contenders, the New York Post reported. None of the three has officially announced a candidacy.
The timing alone is worth noting. While Hunter Biden was offering his political assessments on camera, his father, former President Joe Biden, was back at Syracuse University celebrating the unveiling of a portrait that will hang permanently in the law school's Law Library Reading Room.
The younger Biden did not mince words about the state of Democratic leadership. In the MeidasTouch interview, he told Radel:
"But more than anything, we just have to unify, not just as Democrats. I'm kind of sick of party labels. I am disappointed in much of the Democratic Party, leadership in Congress, in the United States Senate."
That is a striking statement from a man whose father led the party from the White House and whose family name remains synonymous with Democratic politics. It also lands at a moment when Senate Democrats are already quietly counting votes over their own leadership struggles.
Hunter Biden reserved his highest praise for Newsom, the California governor who has positioned himself as a vocal critic of the current administration. Fox News reported that Biden called Newsom "probably the most articulate and greatest warrior we have out there."
His full quote expanded on that point:
"I think that we have an incredibly strong bench. I think that Gov. Newsom is probably the most articulate and greatest warrior we have out there, really loves the way in which he calls out the president."
So the man who benefited from the most brazen use of the pardon power in modern memory now wants to play kingmaker. That is the reality Democrats are dealing with, and it tells you something about the state of the party that Hunter Biden feels entitled to hold court on who should lead it next.
Beyond Newsom, Hunter Biden singled out Beshear and Shapiro as part of what he called a strong Democratic bench. Radel's post on X, dated April 14, 2026, summarized the exchange: Biden was "keeping an eye on @GavinNewsom, @AndyBeshearKY, and @JoshShapiroPA as possible contenders in 2028."
Former Vice President Kamala Harris, who ran in 2024 after Joe Biden dropped out of the race, has said she is thinking about running again in 2028. That sets up a potential collision between Harris and the governors Hunter Biden is now publicly boosting, a dynamic that will do nothing to heal the internal fractures he says concern him.
The broader picture of Democratic disarray extends well beyond the 2028 field. On Capitol Hill, sitting senators have revolted against Chuck Schumer's strategy, backing insurgent candidates over leadership's preferred picks.
Perhaps most revealing was Hunter Biden's praise for New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. He told Radel he found Mamdani "inspiring", not a word most Americans outside deep-blue precincts would use for a self-described democratic socialist running the nation's largest city.
"I look at somebody like Mayor Mamdani, and I'm inspired, absolutely, completely inspired by the way in which he has not only won his election but the way that he's leading now."
There it is. The son of a former president, a man pardoned by his own father, says the future of the Democratic Party runs through a California governor who "calls out the president" and a New York City mayor from the socialist wing. If that is the "strong bench" Democrats are counting on, Republican strategists can be forgiven for feeling optimistic.
Hunter Biden acknowledged, at least in passing, the elephant in the room. He told Radel he understood his unique position, and his choice of words was careful:
"I'm completely biased as it relates to what my dad did for me. I fully understand how uniquely situated I am in being privileged enough to have received a pardon from my father."
That admission of bias did not stop him from offering sweeping commentary on the direction of the party and the country. He also took aim at the current administration, saying he did not believe the Founders "ever imagined Donald Trump" or "the Trump family."
It takes a particular kind of confidence for a man who received a pardon from his own father, while that father sat in the Oval Office, to lecture the country about what the Founders imagined. Hunter Biden's legal and financial troubles have been well documented; he is now living abroad and claiming $17 million in debt as a former law firm sues over unpaid bills.
And yet here he is, granting interviews about the future of American governance.
While his son was reshaping the Democratic landscape from a social media interview, Joe Biden was at Syracuse University for a portrait unveiling. The former president's remarks at the event drew attention for a different reason: he compared a Black member of the school's Board of Trustees to former President Barack Obama.
"I always want to turn around to one guy and say... 'Barack, what are you doing?"
The comment received no further elaboration in the reporting. But it fit a pattern for the former president, who has a long history of racially awkward public remarks that his allies have consistently brushed aside.
Meanwhile, the broader Democratic Party continues to struggle with basic questions of direction and leadership. Schumer's own handpicked Senate recruits have refused to back him, and the party's legislative strategy has stalled on multiple fronts.
Hunter Biden's interview is not important because his political analysis is especially sharp. It is important because it reveals the vacuum at the center of the Democratic Party. When the former president's son, a man with no elected office, no policy portfolio, and a pardon hanging around his neck, can command a media interview to weigh in on who should lead the party, it means nobody with actual authority is filling that role.
No one has officially announced a 2028 candidacy among Newsom, Beshear, or Shapiro. Harris is "thinking about" running again. And the congressional leadership that Hunter Biden just publicly criticized has shown little capacity to follow through on its own stated priorities.
Hunter Biden said he was "sick of party labels" and wanted unity. But his interview did the opposite, it spotlighted the divisions, elevated one faction's favorites, and reminded everyone that the Biden family still expects to be heard, consequences and credibility notwithstanding.
A party that takes its cues from Hunter Biden is a party that has run out of people worth listening to.