Minnesota Congressman Dean Phillips has made it official, he is running for the Democratic nomination for President against Joe Biden. Phillips made the announcement earlier today in New Hampshire.
Phillips has hinted for months leading up to today's announcement that he was thinking about running against President Joe Biden. Phillips spoke to WCCO's Chad Hartman Friday afternoon.
It was with Hartman last year that Phillips first said it was time for President Joe Biden to step aside and let a new generation of leaders emerge, thoughts he echoed on WCCO again Friday.
"I answered honestly and I thought it was time for him to pass the torch," said Phillips. "Because that was what I was hearing from voters all around the country, and I thought that was a promise he had made to the country, and I felt that it was in the best interest of the country."
Phillips adds that he has great respect for what Joe Biden has done, and that he has been a "good president", while at the same time feeling that it is time for a new generation.
"Well, first of all, I'm not running against the president, I'm running for the future, and I'm running for change," Phillips explains.
Hartman pushed back on Phillips claim that he isn't running against Biden, to which Phillips said there is actually a crowded field.
"And, believe it or not, I didn't even know this until I filed myself," he says. "There are 15 candidates, 15 Democratic candidates on the ballot in the New Hampshire Primary."
Phillips says that affordability is one of his main concerns for the country.
"The price of fuel, the price of groceries, the price of healthcare, the price of childcare," Phillips said. "And we're a country right now that is treating corporations and the well-to-do, including myself by the way, much more advantageously than we are treating working families. That's why I love Minnesota. We don't have taxes on clothing or food for a reason, to give people that need it a chance who need it the most."
Phillips will now spend the next three months working to garner support in New Hampshire, even though that state is no longer the first primary according to the Democratic National Party who agrees to make South Carolina first instead. Biden will not be on the ballot in New Hampshire.
Phillips is highly unlikely to beat Biden. Still, his run offers a symbolic challenge to national Democrats trying to project the idea that there is no reason to doubt the president’s electability — even as many Americans question whether the 80-year-old Biden should serve another term.
He said in his speech that he would try to fix the economy and warned about high prices and “the chaos at our border” — all issues that are potential vulnerabilities for Biden as he heads into a likely rematch against former President Donald Trump. And Phillips is trying to engage New Hampshire Democrats angry at Biden for diluting their state’s influence on the 2024 Democratic primary calendar, noting that the state had historically been “first to vet presidential candidates like me.”
Though Biden won’t officially run in New Hampshire’s primary and will rely on a write-in campaign, the president is planning to head next week to Phillips’ home state for an official event and fundraiser.
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