CONCORD, N.H: For months, Dean Phillips has been calling for a Democratic primary challenge to President Joe Biden. He’s drawn no public interest from governors, lawmakers, and other would-be alternatives.
The Minnesota congressman is finally entering the race himself.
The 54-year-old Phillips has scheduled a campaign announcement Friday at the New Hampshire statehouse in Concord. Asked during an interview by CBS if he was running for president, Phillips responded: “I am. I have to.”
“I think President Biden has done a spectacular job for our country,” he said. “But it’s not about the past. This is an election about the future.”
While Phillips is highly unlikely to beat Biden, a run would offer 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.
Phillips may also benefit from New Hampshire Democrats angry at Biden for diluting their state’s influence on the 2024 Democratic primary calendar, a change that state party chairman Ray Buckley has warned could create a “potential embarrassment” by “an insurgent candidate, serious or not.”
Biden’s reelection campaign and the Democratic National Committee have declined to address Phillips’ possible run. But White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre noted Phillips’ voting record and said, “We appreciate the congressman’s almost 100% support of this president.”
Buckley was far more upbeat about Biden this week, saying the president would easily clinch his state’s primary even though he won’t officially run in it, requiring a write-in campaign. And Biden is planning to head next week to Phillips’ home state for an official event and fundraiser.
The president has long cast himself as uniquely qualified to beat Donald Trump again after his 2020 win, and top Democrats have lined up behind him while also positioning themselves for a future primary run.
Phillips has already missed the deadline to enter Nevada’s primary and is little known nationally. But he argues Biden may not be able to beat Trump again, telling CBS News that polling suggests “we’re going to be facing an emergency next November.”
New Hampshire primary challenges have a history of wounding incumbent presidents.
In 1968, another Minnesotan, Democratic Sen. Eugene McCarthy, built his campaign around opposing the Vietnam War and finished second in New Hampshire’s primary, helping push President Lyndon Johnson into forgoing a second term. Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy’s challenge of President Jimmy Carter and Pat Buchanan’s run against President George H.W. Bush both failed, but Carter and Bush ultimately lost their reelection bids.
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