Moderate Phillips Launches Primary Bid Against President Biden

October 27, 2023 by Dan McCue
Moderate Phillips Launches Primary Bid Against President Biden

WASHINGTON — Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., a centrist Democrat from Minnesota who has long argued that President Biden should not run for reelection due to his age and low poll numbers, has formally launched his campaign to unseat the incumbent president.

Phillips, a third-term congressman who represents a district that includes suburban Minneapolis, filed the paperwork to run in the primary contest in New Hampshire on Friday morning.

His appearance in Manchester, New Hampshire, followed the filing of related paperwork with the Federal Election Commission Thursday night, and the unveiling of a campaign website, dean24.com, that went live at about the same time.

Phillips told reporters last night that he believes “it’s time to pass the torch” to a new generation.

His campaign adviser, Steve Schmidt, a co-founder of The Lincoln Project, a group founded ahead of the 2020 presidential election to campaign against former President Trump, assured reporters this morning that Phillips is “running to win.”

The choice of New Hampshire as the launch site for Phillips’ campaign is an interesting one.

Because the Democratic National Committee stripped New Hampshire of its delegates for its refusal to abide by the party’s order to move its primary later in the year, Biden is not competing in the contest.

This will be the first time ever that a sitting president will not appear on the ballot in New Hampshire.

That means Phillips is already the odds-on winner of a contest that will also include Marianne Williamson, the self-help author who ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination in 2020, and Cenk Uygur, the co-creator and co-host of the progressive talk show “The Young Turks.”

Schmidt, who infamously advised Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., to select Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate in 2008, said Phillips will focus not only on New Hampshire, but also South Carolina, which has moved up in the primary schedule, and Michigan.

With a net worth estimated to be about $123 million, Phillips, 54, is the fifth richest member of the House and one of the 10 richest members in Congress.

Earlier this month he stepped down from his position as co-chair of the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee because he said his views relative to the 2024 presidential race were “incongruent with the majority of my caucus.”

But one group with whom his views do seem to align are the participants in recent polling on the race for the White House.

A CNN poll conducted in late August and released in September found that nearly three-quarters of Americans (73%) are “seriously concerned” that Biden’s age (80) might negatively affect his current level of physical and mental competence.

More than three-quarters (76%) are concerned about his ability to serve out another full term if reelected, with a smaller 68% majority seriously concerned about his ability to understand the next generation’s concerns.

The president himself has brushed off such polls, telling reporters at a news conference earlier this year that voters are going to see him participate in the 2024 campaign and that “they’re going to judge whether or not I have it or don’t have it.” 

“I respect them for taking a hard look at it,” he said.

But Phillips says the numbers are clearly saying only one thing: “They are saying … we’re going to be facing an emergency next November.”

Age aside, Phillips, a member of the Problem Solvers Caucus, New Democrat Coalition and Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus, appears to have no real philosophical or policy disagreements with the president.

In fact, according to FiveThirtyEight, a website that focuses on opinion poll analysis, politics, and economics, among other topics, found that Phillips has voted with the president 100% of the time.

As for a brief biographical sketch: Phillips was born Dean Benson Pfefer on Jan. 20, 1969, in St. Paul, Minnesota, just months before his biological father, Army Capt. Arthur Pfefer, was killed in a helicopter crash in Vietnam.

The father and son never met.

In 1972, his mother, DeeDee, married Edward Phillips, the chairman and CEO of Phillips Distilling Company, the Minnesota-based liquor giant. 

Soon after the wedding, Eddie Phillips adopted Dean, who took his adoptive father’s last name, and many years later, in 2000, after earning a master’s degree in Business from the University of Minnesota, Dean Phillips was named the new CEO of the Phillips Distilling Company.

By 2012, the company was reportedly worth over $175 million.

On a side note, Phillips’ adoptive grandmother, Pauline Phillips, was the author of the famous “Dear Abby” advice column, which she wrote under the pseudonym “Abigail Van Buren” between 1956 and 2002.

In 2012, Phillips stepped down as CEO of Phillips Distilling, opting to manage a small, Texas-based gelato company, Talenti, that was among the family’s investments. 

Soon after, Talenti became one of the best-selling ice cream brands in the country. It was sold to the multinational packaged goods brand Unilever in 2014 for an undisclosed sum.

Dan can be reached at [email protected] and at https://twitter.com/DanMcCue

A+
a-
  • 2024 election
  • Dean Phillips
  • Joe Biden
  • political news
  • presidential primaries
  • In The News

    Health

    Voting

    2024 Elections

    December 5, 2023
    by Dan McCue
    Special Election to Replace George Santos Set for Feb. 13

    ALBANY, N.Y. — The special election to replace disgraced former Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., will be held on Feb. 13,... Read More

    ALBANY, N.Y. — The special election to replace disgraced former Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., will be held on Feb. 13, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Tuesday evening. As previously reported by The Well News, Santos was expelled from the House of Representatives on Friday by... Read More

    Arkansas Rules Cenk Uygur Won't Qualify for Democratic Presidential Primary

    LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas election officials on Monday said online news personality Cenk Uygur, who was born in... Read More

    LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas election officials on Monday said online news personality Cenk Uygur, who was born in Turkey, can't appear on the state's Democratic presidential primary ballot next year. The determination comes weeks after Uygur proclaimed that he had become the first naturalized... Read More

    Biden Heading to Hollywood for Fundraiser Featuring Steven Spielberg and Shonda Rhimes

    WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will head to Los Angeles next week for a big-dollar event that will be... Read More

    WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will head to Los Angeles next week for a big-dollar event that will be his first since strikes by writers and actors effectively ground his fundraising to a halt in the heart of the entertainment industry, which has long served... Read More

    November 30, 2023
    by Dan McCue
    ‘Localizing’ Biden Platform Seen as Key to Democratic Victories in 2024

    WASHINGTON — Democrats hoping to draw lessons from this year’s off-years to apply in 2024 would do well to try... Read More

    WASHINGTON — Democrats hoping to draw lessons from this year’s off-years to apply in 2024 would do well to try to localize the president’s national platform while also continuing to embrace the abortion issue, which still appears to be working for the party. That was the... Read More

    Koch Network Endorses Nikki Haley in Republican Presidential Primary

    NEW YORK (AP) — Americans for Prosperity, the political arm of the powerful Koch network, formally endorsed Nikki Haley's presidential campaign on... Read More

    NEW YORK (AP) — Americans for Prosperity, the political arm of the powerful Koch network, formally endorsed Nikki Haley's presidential campaign on Tuesday, promising to commit its nationwide army of activists — and virtually unlimited funds — to helping Haley defeat former President Donald Trump in the GOP primary contest.... Read More

    Vivek Ramaswamy Struggles to Gain Traction With Iowa Republicans

    COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — Ten minutes before Vivek Ramaswamy was to take the stage in a dated casino hotel in western... Read More

    COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — Ten minutes before Vivek Ramaswamy was to take the stage in a dated casino hotel in western Iowa, no one was in the conference room except for two staffers from the Iowa GOP, which organized the event, and a group of journalists. Guests... Read More

    News From The Well
    scroll top