George Clooney says there should have been a Democratic primary after Biden dropped out

George Clooney told CNN there should have been a primary election last summer after then-President Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race. (CNN via CNN Newsource)

Actor and major Democratic donor George Clooney told CNN there should have been a primary election last summer after then-U.S. president Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race, while sharing which Democrat has caught his attention for 2028.

Clooney’s comments, made in a sit-down interview Tuesday with CNN’s Jake Tapper, come as Democrats seek to correct their mistakes from the last election – in which they also lost the Senate to Republicans – and to coalesce around a strong message for 2028.

“How they were running was that it was a failed administration,” Clooney said on “The Lead” of the campaign that former U.S. vice president Kamala Harris inherited after Biden immediately threw his support behind her. “You can’t run against yourself, right? And that’s why that was a difficult campaign. It’s hard to run against yourself and say, ‘Well, I disagree with all this.’”

Clooney is seen by many Democratic backers in Hollywood as a sort of compass given his engagement and activism. When he penned a New York Times op-ed last summer calling for Biden to not seek reelection, it marked a watershed moment in a movement that ended with the president’s decision to exit the race.

Instead of Harris inheriting the ticket, Clooney argued there should have been a race for the Democratic nomination. While he contended that Harris could have won a primary, Clooney said he had his eye on one particular governor.

“I think we have some really good governors,” Clooney said, adding that he would’ve liked to see a “quick primary” and naming Andy Beshear, the governor of his home state of Kentucky, and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

“But who I think is … levitating above that is Wes Moore,” Clooney said, referring to the Democratic governor from Maryland and pointing to his handling of last year’s Baltimore bridge collapse. “He’s a proper leader. … I like him a lot. I think he could be someone we could all join in behind.”

Clooney also stressed that now is the time for Democrats to find their next leader. “We have to find somebody – rather soon,” he said, adding, “It’s our job now to put together a proper team to stand up.”

Clooney headlined a star-studded fundraiser for Biden’s reelection campaign last June. But just weeks later, following Biden’s disastrous performance against Donald Trump at CNN’s presidential debate, the actor wrote the stunning New York Times op-ed, which he described Tuesday as a “civic duty.”

“Because I found that people on my side of the street – you know, I’m a Democrat. I was a Democrat in Kentucky, so I get it – when I saw people on my side of the street not telling the truth, I thought that was time,” Clooney told Tapper.

In his op-ed last summer, Clooney – who has a long friendship with Biden – cast doubt on the president’s fitness and stressed he was “was not the Joe ‘big F-ing deal’ Biden of 2010.”

“He wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020,” Clooney wrote. Biden would ultimately drop out just weeks later, and Clooney quickly endorsed Harris.

In the op-ed, Clooney similarly called for a Democratic primary, writing that the country deserves to hear from other politicians seen as potential replacements for Biden, including Harris, Moore, Whitmer and Beshear.

Clooney draws parallels between his play and the state of politics

Clooney spoke with Tapper from New York City’s Winter Garden Theatre, where he is starring in “Good Night, and Good Luck,” a Broadway adaptation of the 2005 movie he directed of the same name. It is based on veteran journalist Edward R. Murrow’s work and tension with Republican Sen. Joseph McCarthy during the Red Scare of the 1950s.

Stressing Murrow’s commitment to the truth and the role of the Fourth Estate in preserving democracy, Clooney said the journalist’s words are still powerful.

“It doesn’t matter what political bend you are on – when you hear things like, you know, ‘We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof and a conviction depends on evidence and due process of law, and we will not walk in fear of one another. We won’t be driven by fear into an age of unreason,’ I think those are extraordinarily powerful words for who we are at our best,” Clooney said.

When asked by Tapper how Clooney and his team put together a montage in the play that spotlights news clips from various decades – which includes Tapper himself criticizing those who quash dissent, along with people defending Biden’s fitness – Clooney said a large chunk of it is about “how we decide to inform ourselves.”

“It relates all the way to this point we’re at right now, which is: It’s not just about trying to, you know, fix … questionable problems,” Clooney said, later adding, “I thought that the montage, in a way, was us slowly understanding how we all participated in … this idea of the wild, wild West.”

CNN’s Michael Williams contributed to this report.