Dean Phillips, the U.S. representative from , announced his campaign for the 2024 United States presidential election on October 27, 2023. He was one of three major candidates who challenged incumbent President Joe Biden in the 2024 Democratic primary, alongside environmental lawyer and activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and author Marianne Williamson.
Phillips' campaign was considered to be a "long-shot" run by Roll Call and NBC News. Phillips is generally considered a moderate Democrat. Phillips argued during his campaign that president Biden would be a weak general election candidate due to his age and low approval ratings. Phillips campaigned as a younger alternative to Biden, who would be a stronger opponent to Trump. On December 23, 2023, Phillips argued that Biden should “thoughtfully exit” the 2024 race. In public, Phillips was ridiculed. In private, others in the Democratic Party shared his concerns. On March 6, 2024, Phillips suspended his campaign following Super Tuesday.
Phillips was the second-placed person in terms of awarded delegates in the 2024 Democratic Party presidential primaries. Four delegates to the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago were pledged to Phillips, compared to 3,896 for Biden and 36 to uncommitted. Phillips' delegates were gained from , , and congressional districts and Logan County, Nebraska.
Background
In July 2022, Phillips became the first incumbent Democratic member of Congress to say President Biden should not run for re-election and called for "generational change" pointing to Biden's age, adding that he believed political competition should be healthy. On August 2, 2022, Democratic U.S. Representative Angie Craig from Minnesota's 2nd Congressional District was asked by MinnPost whether she would support President Biden if he ran for reelection in 2024. In response, Craig did not state her position on whether she would support Biden's potential reelection campaign. Instead, she expressed agreement with Phillips, who had previously called for "generational change" within the Democratic Party, stating they were in lockstep and alignment with the need for a “new generation” of Democratic leadership up and down the ballot.
After the White House holiday party in December 2022, at which he believed the president's decline was too graphic to ignore, Phillips was left with no doubt in his mind—Biden was unfit to serve a second term.
In July 2023, Phillips said he was considering challenging President Joe Biden in the 2024 Democratic presidential primaries. Before launching his campaign, Phillips reportedly reached out to other elected Democratic officials, such as Governors Gretchen Whitmer and JB Pritzker, to convince them to enter the presidential primary race to oppose Biden, but they declined to speak with him directly. In October 2023, he announced that he would step down as co-chair of the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee because his views on the 2024 presidential race were incongruent with the majority of his caucus. Many elected Democrats in Congress urged Phillips not to launch a primary bid against Biden. Politico reported that Bakari Sellers, a former South Carolina state legislator, suggested it would be a waste of time for Phillips to even file to get on the ballot when applications open in November. Sellers also said, “We'll laugh at the people who voted for Dean Phillips and then just move on to, you know, celebrating Valentine's Day.” Phillips filed the paperwork to run with the Federal Election Commission on October 26.
Campaign
Announcement
Phillips officially announced his candidacy on October 27, 2023, in Concord, New Hampshire. Phillips told CNN his entry into the race “was not about me,” but “my inability to attract other candidates, to inspire the president to recognize that it is time, compels me to serve my country because it appears that President Joe Biden is going to lose the next election.”
On the day of the campaign launch, Phillips was asked by The Daily Beast about receiving a donation from Harlan Crow, a major donor to the Republican Party and close friend of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, for his 2020 re-election. Phillips responded that he did not recall speaking with or meeting Crow.
Phillips' announcement of his candidacy sparked pushback from his House colleagues, such as Representative Pramila Jayapal. On October 29, 2023, during an interview on NBC's “Meet the Press”, Jayapal stated about Phillips' candidacy that, “Everyone's got the right to run, but I'm sorry, I have no idea what he is running on that is different from what President Biden is running on. He took the same bold stances that President Biden has taken in this country on domestic issues. And I really don't see what he is doing.”
Staff and advisors Phillips hired Jeff Weaver, a top consultant for Bernie Sanders' presidential campaigns, as a senior strategist. His senior staff also included Zach Graumann, who had served as campaign manager on Andrew Yang's 2020 presidential campaign.
Steve Schmidt, a former advisor to Senator John McCain, aided with the campaign launch, but planned to leave the campaign to form an independent super PAC. Schmidt said the super PAC would support Phillips through advertising in New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Michigan. Schmidt stated regarding Phillips not being well-known was an asset, as he did not have years of “political stink on him” to overcome, and “you can get famous very fast in American politics."
Phillips' campaign reportedly struggled to secure quality vendors and consultants due to fears that they would lose out on major Democratic clients for stepping out against their party.
Campaign events In November 2023, the Nelson A. Rockefeller Center for Public Policy and the Social Sciences at Dartmouth College and the Dartmouth Political Union co-hosted a discussion with Phillips as part of their "Path to the Presidency" speaker series to discuss his campaign and policy positions.
In New Hampshire, Phillips hit the campaign trail with a “Dean Phillips for President” bus, and his 1960 International Harvester milk truck, dubbed the “government repair truck,” made an appearance repainted with “Dean Phillips for President.”
Phillips said his campaign depended on alternative media platforms to get his message across after being stonewalled by MSNBC and CNN, which haven't afforded him an interview after providing a town hall for every Republican primary challenger to Trump.
Phillips held several Southern California fundraisers, including one hosted in the home of television executive Adam Goodman, who previously served as president of Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks SKG.
On November 3, Phillips appeared as a guest on an episode of “Real Time with Bill Maher.” Comedian Bill Maher lauded Phillips but stopped short of a full endorsement. On November 11, Phillips joined the Prof G Pod with Scott Galloway podcast for an interview. On November 17, Phillips joined the All-In podcast for an interview.
On November 18, Phillips discussed the case for his campaign at the 2023 Blue Jamboree rally hosted by the Charleston County Democratic Party in South Carolina.
On November 30, Phillips visited the Pod Save America studio to discuss his run against Biden in the Democratic primary.
On December 4, Phillips spoke at Franklin Pierce University in Rindge, New Hampshire, for its Pizza and Politics event. On December 5, Phillips spoke to college students at Keene State College as part of the college's American Democracy Project. On December 6, Phillips spoke at a cannabis dispensary in Maine, where he said that Biden was on the wrong side of history," referring to Biden's lack of action to legalize marijuana at the federal level. On December 8, Phillips met with voters at a veterans' home in Tilton, New Hampshire and at a town hall in Exeter, New Hampshire.
During an X Spaces forum, Phillips said that, in his first 100 days as president, he intends to build "the most extraordinary bipartisan cabinet in American history." As for other first 100-day priorities, Phillips also said he intended to use “zero-based budgeting” and hire an international consulting firm to conduct a “top-down assessment” of the federal government.
During a January trip to New Hampshire, Phillips remarked that he found both the city of Washington D.C. and the reluctance of his fellow Democrats to call on Biden not to run again to be distastefully insular and partisan. On January 12, Phillips made a guest appearance on The Breakfast Club radio show. On January 15, Phillips was interviewed by the Fung Brothers on their YouTube channel. On January 17, Phillips made a campaign stop at Post and Beam Brewing in Peterborough, New Hampshire. On January 18, Phillips held campaign events in Manchester and Hanover, New Hampshire, with 2020 Democratic Primary presidential candidate Andrew Yang. On January 20, Phillips was a guest on the Modern Wisdom podcast with Chris Williamson to discuss his campaign. On January 22, Phillips met with voters at a meeting of a Rotary Club in Nashua, New Hampshire.
On January 27, President Biden and Phillips spoke about their bids for the Democratic Nomination at the South Carolina Democratic Party's First-in-the-Nation Celebration dinner in Columbia, South Carolina.
In February, Phillips announced layoffs to a lot of his staff members and also canceled his plans to campaign in Michigan.
Criticism of Joe Biden
On December 14, 2023, during an appearance on “Meet the Press NOW,” Phillips criticized Biden's candidacy, stating that “The president is not a threat to democracy, but running and suppressing other candidates is a threat when you are behind in the polls, like he is.” Phillips also added, “He's a good man and someone I respect. But this delusion that he can win is a threat to democracy.”
In January 2024, Phillips told Axios that he thought it would be "impossible" for Biden to do the job of president for four more years, remarking that "At that stage of life, it is impossible ultimately to conduct, to prosecute the office of the American presidency in the way that this country in the world needs right now. That is an absolute truth."
Phillips insisted throughout his campaign that the Democratic Party had become "delusional" for thinking that Biden could defeat former President Trump in a rematch. In a statement for a Business Insider story, a Phillips spokesperson chastised his Democratic colleagues who spoke ill of Phillips' primary bid against Biden. "Rep. Phillips extends his thanks to his friends in Congress for their kind words and encouragement — it takes real courage on their part to sit back and reject democracy in favor of a coronation that will hand our country back over to Donald Trump," the spokesperson said.
Ballot access disputes with DNC and state Democratic parties Phillips filed his candidacy to make the New Hampshire ballot on the last day candidates were able to file. Representative Bennie Thompson called Phillips' decision to campaign in New Hampshire, rather than South Carolina, "disrespectful" to voters of color," while then-House Assistant Democratic Leader Jim Clyburn stated that Phillips was not "respecting the wishes of the titular head of our Party."
Due to his late entry, Phillips missed the deadline to file for the Nevada primary. He was criticized by Nevada Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, as well as Representative Dina Titus, for skipping the state.