Dean Phillips says Biden should ‘hand the torch’ in new ad

Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., is launching a new ad for his presidential campaign by saying it’s time for President Joe Biden to “hand the torch” to the next generation.

Phillips opens the minute-long spot, which he shared first in an interview with NBC News’ Kristen Welker on “Meet the Press,” by noting that Biden joined to the Senate when Phillips was only 3 years old.

Phillips said Biden has served “with grace, with competency, with empathy. But there does come a time when the next generation should hand the torch to the next. And the next generation to take that baton and address the challenges that we’re going to be facing over some difficult days ahead.”

“I celebrate Joe Biden. I love Joe Biden,” Phillips later says in the ad. “But the time is now for the next generation to take that baton and do better for our country, for our children and for our future.”

Phillips also launched a TV ad on Friday in New Hampshire as he filed in the state to run for president. The initial spending underscores how Phillips is willing to spend his money on the campaign.

A wealthy former executive of his family’s distilling company and Talenti Gelato, Phillips told reporters in New Hampshire on Friday that he has already loaned his campaign $2 million “to get us going.”

But that is a fraction of the funds it takes to run a national campaign. Biden’s campaign, its affiliate groups and the pro-Biden super PAC Future Forward USA have already spent nearly $40 million million on ads, according to AdImpact.

While in New Hampshire, Phillips was asked if Biden would lose to former President Donald Trump if the election were held that day.

“Yes, he will lose,” Phillips said. “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.”