WASHINGTON — House Democrats say they are stunned by their colleague Rep. Dean Phillips’ decision Friday to launch a long-shot primary challenge against President Joe Biden, warning that his actions may have jeopardized his once promising political career. And Donald Trump’s chances may get a boost. To win the White House.
A House Democrat close to Phillips said, “He has a very good heart. And I believe in his heart he thinks it’s the right thing to do. But it’s quite the opposite.” “It’s devastating. He’s essentially completely ruining his career and destroying any goodwill he had within the Democratic Party. And he has no way out — no way out. So it’s pointless. “It’s an exercise.”
A moderate Minnesota Democrat, Phillips has been a beloved member of the Democratic caucus and was viewed as a rising star on Capitol Hill. Less than a year ago, her colleagues elected her to the leadership team as one of the co-chairs of House Democrats’ policy and communications operations. He recently resigned from that post after calling on a primary challenger to run against Biden, arguing that the president, at 80, is too old to run for another term (Phillips is 54. Are of).
His personal friendship and popularity in the caucus is a big reason why some people are willing to talk on the record about Phillips’ quick White House bid against the current president. However, in private, he could not make sense of it, suggesting that it would be a political dead end for Phillips.
“It’s a head-scratcher,” a second House Democrat said Friday, a sentiment echoed by many others in the party since Phillips first began pursuing a bid over the summer. “He is a great member, a good strategic thinker. I don’t know what he hopes to accomplish.”
A third House Democrat said he has racked his brain trying to find an explanation for Phillips’ last-minute, impromptu presidential bid.
“He is well-liked in caucus and I can’t understand what he’s hoping to accomplish here. “I’m not just saying this as a rhetorical statement: I don’t really understand what the issue is,” a third lawmaker said in a phone interview Friday. “I don’t know if he Expecting someone to come out in favor of a certain cause, raise an issue that isn’t getting attention or have some other goal, but I haven’t heard it clearly expressed.”
“So I’m concerned, in the absence of that type of expression, it appears as if he’s doing it in a way that could potentially harm Biden’s position,” the lawmaker continued.
When asked about Phillips 2024, a fourth Democrat texted this emoji: 🤷♀️.
“I think he really believes there needs to be a primary and he thinks he’s doing the right thing,” the Democrat said. Said.
In a fundraising email for Biden, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, a Democrat and former House member, appeared to make fun of Phillips’s race, but in a very “Minnesota good” way.
“You know, I have this to say about Minnesota: It’s a great state, full of great people. And sometimes they do crazy things,” Walz wrote in Friday’s pitch, which did not mention Phillips by name. “Like setting the world record for most basketball plays at the same time (it’s true) or winning the most WNBA championships (hit the links!). And sometimes…they create a political side show for themselves. But that’s for another email.”
The only sitting member of the House to be elected President in 1880 was James Garfield.
Phillips, who filed his candidacy for president in New Hampshire on Friday, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Phillips, elected on the anti-Trump wave that returned House Democrats to power in 2018, has emphasized civility and bipartisanship in politics. But he has been one of the loudest voices calling for generational change in a party run by people over the age of seventy.
In 2022, Phillips was one of a handful of young lawmakers who called for “new blood” to replace the longtime incumbents of House Democrats: Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer and Jim Clyburn, who are all 80. Are in the decade of.
Those leaders stepped aside after last year’s midterms. Now, after several high-profile Democrats rejected his calls to appoint someone to take on Biden, who turns 81 next month, Phillips has decided to do it himself.
In interviews, Phillips is highlighting polls that show voters are concerned about Biden’s age and warning that Biden will lose to the GOP front-runner, Donald Trump, in the general election.
“The surveys say it, the numbers say it, but the most important thing is that people are saying it. …The important thing is that people are saying it in conversations. They’re saying it to every one of their elected officials “I’m saying it in my neighborhoods, in my garages, in my fields, in my coffee shops, around my kitchen table,” Phillips told reporters at his campaign bus in Concord, New Hampshire.
He added, “And the fact that people are not being listened to is why there is anger in the country.” “So the answer is yes, he will lose. And I’m not the only person to think so. I may be one of the few people willing to say it out loud.”
One House Democrat who represents a swing district said he thought Phillips’ candidacy would ultimately help Biden’s re-election bid.
“In some ways I think Dean’s admission will force people to grapple quickly with who they really want, who stands with them and for them, and who can win,” the lawmaker said. “And I think across all of those dimensions, it’s clearly going to be Joe Biden… It will compel, and kind of catalyze, people to rally around the president, including myself. “
In the 2018 midterms, Phillips defeated Republican incumbent Representative Eric Paulsen, throwing the GOP seat into the Democrat column. Since then, Phillips has served on the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, and worked with Republicans including Reps. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., and French Hill, R-Ark., on things like military and entrepreneurship issues.
He is among the richest members of Congress. Before arriving in Washington, he ran his family’s wine and spirits business, Phillips Distilling, and helped start Talenti Gelato and a coffee business.
In May, Phillips sat down with NBC News at the Vietnam Memorial and shared the emotional story of discovering the helicopter crash site in Vietnam where his father, a young Army captain, was killed half a century earlier.
“It became a mission,” Phillips said of his trip. “And when I got there, I remember thinking, ‘This is where he took his last breath.’ And for me, it felt like a place where I could have my first experience.”
