--- title: Anita Hill Says She Could Vote for Biden If He's Nominated description: Anita Hill said she would contemplate voting for Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election, and she does not equate him to Donald Trump. canonical: https://time.com/5606855/anita-hill-could-vote-for-joe-biden/ author: Josiah Bates article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-06-13T22:57:31.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:06:06.626Z article:section: Politics og:title: 'Of Course I Could.' Anita Hill Says She Could Potentially Vote for Joe Biden og:description: Hill also said she does not equate Biden's actions to those of President Trump og:url: https://time.com/5606855/anita-hill-could-vote-for-joe-biden/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltca89f782654872ab/69894b2e457a52f101d612ec/anita-hill-vote-biden.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2590 og:image:height: 1457 og:image:alt: 25th Annual ELLE Women In Hollywood Celebration - Arrivals og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'Of Course I Could.' Anita Hill Says She Could Potentially Vote for Joe Biden twitter:description: Hill also said she does not equate Biden's actions to those of President Trump twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltca89f782654872ab/69894b2e457a52f101d612ec/anita-hill-vote-biden.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 'Of Course I Could.' Anita Hill Says She Could Potentially Vote for Joe Biden > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. Brief goes beyond the Washington headlines to explain the politics, personalities and power dynamics shaping what happens next. 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It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Joe Biden Says He Regrets Not Giving Anita Hill the 'Hearing She Deserved' [Watch (HLS stream): Joe Biden Says He Regrets Not Giving Anita Hill the 'Hearing She Deserved'](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Bf0wxJ1y.m3u8) (3:46)  _Published 2019-03-27. Former Vice President Joe Biden said Tuesday that he wished he “could have done something” to give Anita Hill the “hearing she deserved” when she testified that she had been sexually harassed by Thomas._ by [Josiah Bates](https://time.com/author/josiah-bates/) ## Josiah Bates Josiah Bates is a criminal justice reporter and a former TIME staff writer. He currently works for The Trace. Jun 13, 2019 10:57 PM UTC  LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 15: Anita Hill attends the 25th Annual ELLE Women In Hollywood Celebration at Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills on October 15, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic) LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 15: Anita Hill attends the 25th Annual ELLE Women In Hollywood Celebration at Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills on October 15, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic) Jon Kopaloff—FilmMagic by [Josiah Bates](https://time.com/author/josiah-bates/) ## Josiah Bates Josiah Bates is a criminal justice reporter and a former TIME staff writer. He currently works for The Trace. Jun 13, 2019 10:57 PM UTC Despite their complicated history, Anita Hill said she would consider voting for Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election if he were to win the Democratic nomination. In an NBC News [interview ](https://twitter.com/NBCNightlyNews/status/1139257379428687874)that aired Thursday evening, Hill did not hesitate when Andrea Mitchell asked whether she “could conceive” of casting a ballot for the former Vice President. “Of course I could,” she replied. > [](https://twitter.com/NBCNightlyNews/status/1139257379428687874) Biden famously oversaw the 1991 Senate Judiciary Committee all-male confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, in which Hill testified that she had been sexually harassed by Thomas. The former Vice President has faced criticism for his role in the hearing. During questioning he did not allow other women to testify on Hill’s behalf, and asked her to “tell the committee what was the most embarrassing of all the incidents you have alleged.” Before announcing his presidential run, Biden [expressed regret](https://time.com/5559507/joe-biden-anita-hill-hearing-regret/) over his role in the hearing, saying he wished he “could have done something” to give Hill the “hearing she deserved.” Shortly after announcing his candidacy for president, Biden reached out to Hill just weeks before he made his announcement. Despite a lengthy phone conversation between the two, Hill said she felt unsatisfied with the apology. “I cannot be satisfied by simply saying, ‘I’m sorry for what happened to you,'” [Hill told the New York _Times_](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/25/us/politics/joe-biden-anita-hill.html). “I will be satisfied when I know that there is real change and real accountability and real purpose.” In her sit down with NBC, Hill also said that she has never intended for Biden to be compared to Trump, and that she doesn’t believe that anything she’s said has hurt his campaign. “What I do want to do though is make the public aware of the urgency of this issue,” Hill said. “We’ve had years to grapple with this as a society and I think we’ve come to a good place and we need to take advantage of this moment.” ## Transcript A really notable woman, Anita Hill, Professor, showed the courage of a lifetime talking about her experience being harassed by Clarence Thomas. We knew a lot less about the extent of harassment back then, over 30 years ago, but she paid a terrible price She was abused through the hearing. She was taken advantage of. Her reputation was attacked. I wish I could have done something. I opposed Clarence Thomas' nomination. I voted against him. But I also realized there was a real and perceived problem the committee faced. They were a bunch of white guys. No, I mean this sincerely, a bunch of white guys, hearing, hearing this testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee. So when Anita Hill, when Anita Hill came to testify she faced a Committee that didn't fully understand what the hell it was all about. To this day I regret I couldn't come up with a way to get her the kind of hearing she deserved, given the courage she showed by reaching out to us. The hearing she deserved was a hearing where she was respected, where the tone of the questioning was not hostile and assaultive. Where the fact that she stepped forward was recognized as an act of courage in and of itself. Cuz let's face it, back in 1991, it took a lot of courage to take on a man who was so much a part of the establishment and the power structure. It took a lot of courage to damage her own career and her own reputation in the face of a cultural bias That if a woman was harassed or abused, she must have done something to deserve it. It still takes courage. Nearly 30 years later, I public apologized to Anita because she didn't get the hearing she deserved. In the Senate Judiciary Committee has a power an obligation to set a standard for the nation it should not be one of the most difficult places woman learn story of abuse and harassment and it lasts for you saw it all over again the camera. Almost 30 years, The institutional cultures not changed. And that diminishes the likelihood that other women will come forward knowing what they're going to face. When a woman sees a distinguished professor or lawyer subject to that kind of cultural backlash, whether it was Doctor Ford or Professor Hill, saw what they endured. It's understandable that they're reluctant to step forward and tell their own stories of harassment or abuse. Folks, I realize I get a little bit too passionate about this sometimes, but we all have an obligation to do nothing less than change the culture in this country. that's just the laws, we change the laws, change the culture, the culture. You all know what the phrase rule of thumb means, where it is derived from? In English common law, not codification though, common law, back in the late 1300s, so many women were dying at the hands of their husbands because they were cradled, just like the cattle Or the sheep, that the court of common law decided that they had to do something about the extent of the deaths. So you know what they said? No man has a right to chastise his woman with a rod thicker then the circumference of his thumb. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] This is English jurisprudential culture. A white man's culture. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] That's gotta change. It's got to change. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5606855/anita-hill-could-vote-for-joe-biden/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5606855/anita-hill-could-vote-for-joe-biden/"},"headline":"'Of Course I Could.' 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