Rep. Dean Phillips, a Minnesota Democrat who has argued for months that President Joe Biden should not run for re-election, stepped off his new campaign bus in Concord, New Hampshire where he’s filing his 2024 primary challenge to the White House incumbent.
Phillips announces in Concord, N.H. pic.twitter.com/Goy6Lrg3pt
— Robert Costa (@costareports) October 27, 2023
In an exclusive interview with Robert Costas on CBS Mornings, Phillips said while President Biden has does a “spectacular job for our country,” he added, “But it’s not about the past. This is an election about the future.”
BREAKING: Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN) is running for president, challenging Pres. Biden in the Democratic primary race.
— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) October 27, 2023
He tells @costareports and @CBSMornings he won't "be quiet" as polling numbers "are so clearly saying that we’re going to be facing an emergency next November.” pic.twitter.com/7tP0QJaKgJ
Phillips asserted: “I will not sit still, I will not be quiet in the face of numbers that are so clearly saying that we’re going to be facing an emergency next November.”
Robert Costas summarizes Phillips’s argument: “the country is at risk if Trump wins again and he’s not confident Biden can beat Trump… he is getting in the race to force a competitive primary, make a generational case, and is also recruiting other Democrats to get in and challenge the president...”
Democratic Minnesota Governor Tim Walz isn’t pleased with Phillip’s decision. He wrote in a fundraising email for President Biden’s re-election campaign: “You know, I have to say this about Minnesota: it’s a great state, full of great people. And sometimes they do crazy things. Like setting the world record for most basketballs spun at the same time (that’s true) or winning the most WNBA championships (go Lynx!). And sometimes…they make political side shows for themselves. But that’s for another email.”
Note: President Biden will not appear on New Hampshire’s primary ballot, citing the party primary calendar which has South Carolina as the first state to hold a primary that awards delegates for the Democratic National Convention in Chicago next year.
