‘A head scratcher’: Dems baffled by Dean Phillips quixotic bid against Biden

WASHINGTON — House Democrats say they are simply baffled by their colleague Rep. Dean Phillips’ decision Friday to launch a long-shot primary challenge against President Joe Biden.

A moderate Minnesota Democrat, Phillips has been a beloved member of the Democratic Caucus and was seen as a rising star on Capitol Hill. Less than a year ago, his colleagues elected him to the leadership team as one of the co-chairs of House Democrats’ policy and communications operation. He recently resigned from that post after calling for a primary challenger to run against Biden, arguing that the president is too old for another term (Phillips is 54).

His personal affability and popularity in the caucus is a big reason why few are willing to talk on the record about Phillip’s quixotic White House bid against the incumbent president. Privately, however, they can’t make any sense of it, suggesting it will be a political dead end for Phillips.

“It’s a head-scratcher,” one House Democrat said Friday, a sentiment echoed by many others in the party since Phillips first started flirting with a bid over the summer. “He is a great member, a good strategic thinker. I don’t know what he hopes to achieve.”

Another House Democrat texted this emoji when asked about Phillips 2024: 🤷‍♀️.

“I think he genuinely believes there needs to be a primary and he thinks he’s doing the right thing,” that Democrat said.

In a fundraising email for Biden, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat and former House member, appeared to mock Phillips’ run but in a very “Minnesota nice” way.

“You know, I have to say this about Minnesota: it’s a great state, full of great people. And sometimes they do crazy things,” Walz wrote Friday in the pitch, which didn’t mention Phillips by name. “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.”

Elected in the anti-Trump wave that swept House Democrats back into power in 2018, Phillips has pushed for civility and bipartisanship in politics. But he also has been one of the loudest voices demanding generational change in a Democratic Party run by septuagenarians and octogenarians.

In 2022, Phillips was one of a handful of younger lawmakers calling for “new blood” to replace House Democrats’ longtime triumvirate: Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer and Jim Clyburn, who are all in their 80s.

Those leaders did step aside after last year’s midterms. Now, after several high-profile Democrats rejected his calls for someone to take on Biden, who turns 81 next month, Phillips has decided to do it himself.

Phillips, who filed his candidacy for president in New Hampshire on Friday, is highlighting polls showing that voters are concerned about Biden’s age and is sounding the alarm that Biden would lose to the GOP frontrunner, Donald Trump, in a general election.

“The polls say it, the numbers say it, but most importantly, the people are saying it. … What matters is people are saying it in conversation. They’re saying it to every single one of their elected officials are saying it around their kitchen tables in their neighborhoods, in their in their garages, on their farms, in their coffee shops,” Phillips told reporters on his campaign bus in Concord, New Hampshire.

“And the fact that people are not being heard is why we have the anger in the country,” he continued. “So the answer is yes, he will lose. And I’m not the only one that thinks that. I may be one of the few that’s simply willing to say it out loud.”