By WILL WEISSERT and STEVE KARNOWSKI (Associated Press)
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota ended his long-shot 2024 Democratic presidential bid on Wednesday after failing to win a main contest in opposition to President Joe Biden.
Phillips advised WCCO Radio in Minneapolis that he was endorsing Biden, saying “there is only one choice” in an anticipated fall matchup with Republican Donald Trump.
Phillips, a 55-year-old multimillionaire who’s among the many richest members of Congress, constructed his White House bid round requires a brand new technology of Democratic management whereas spending freely from his private fortune. But the little-known congressman in the end did not resonate with the occasion’s voters.
Phillips was the one elected Democrat to problem Biden for the presidency. Phillips’ failure to realize traction is additional proof that Democratic voters are behind the 81-year-old Biden even when many have misgivings about his age or his reelection prospects.
The president has lengthy forged himself as uniquely certified to beat Trump once more, and Biden’s reelection marketing campaign largely ignored Phillips besides to level out that the congressman voted with the administration almost 100% of the time in Congress.
Phillips typically argued Biden was too previous to serve a second time period. But in a social media submit Wednesday, Phillips famous that Biden had as soon as visited his residence whereas Biden was vp and that his “decency and wisdom were rarities in politics then, and even more so today.”
Phillips stated within the WCCO interview that whereas he thinks Biden “is at a stage in life where his capacities are diminished, he is still a man of competency and decency and integrity. And the alternative, Donald Trump is a very dangerous, dangerous man.”
The congressman’s endorsement of Biden foreclosed the prospects of third-party problem by Phillips on a possible No Labels ticket. But he stated he hopes Nikki Haley, the final main Trump rival on the Republican aspect, who suspended her marketing campaign Wednesday, considers an unbiased bid. Phillips stated that might draw votes away from Trump and assist Biden’s reelection possibilities, whereas different independents within the race would simply peel off Biden votes and assist Trump.
“I believe wholeheartedly, effusively, there is only one choice, and that is Joe Biden. … At the end of the day, this is really a very stark choice and a very simple contrast,” Phillips stated.
A centerpiece of Phillips’ marketing campaign to upset Biden was in New Hampshire, the place he campaigned laborious, hoping to capitalize on state Democrats’ frustration over a brand new plan by the Democratic National Committee, championed by Biden, reordering the occasion’s 2024 presidential main calendar by main off with South Carolina on Feb. 3.
But as a substitute of pulling off a New Hampshire shock, Phillips completed a distant second within the state’s unsanctioned main, behind a write-in marketing campaign by which Democrats voted for Biden regardless of his title not showing on the poll.
After that defeat, Phillips pressed on to South Carolina and the first’s formal begin. But the DNC didn’t schedule any main debates, and a few states’ Democratic events, together with North Carolina and Florida, should not even planning to carry primaries — making it much more troublesome to problem the sitting president. Phillips misplaced South Carolina and each different state by which he competed.
Before Minnesota’s main on Super Tuesday, hardly any of almost two dozen Democratic voters interviewed in Phillips’ congressional district talked about his presidential marketing campaign. James Calderaro of Hopkins knew Phillips was a candidate however dismissed him as “a distraction.” Calderaro and others stated they had been backing Biden for one of the best probability of stopping Trump in November.
Phillips completed a distant third within the Minnesota main with about 8% of the vote, in contrast with about 19% for “uncommitted” and 71% for Biden.
Phillips has already introduced he’s not in search of reelection in his suburban Minneapolis congressional district. He is inheritor to his stepfather’s Phillips Distilling Co. empire and served as that firm’s president, however he additionally ran the gelato maker Talenti. His grandmother was Pauline Phillips, higher referred to as the recommendation columnist Dear Abby.
Driving a gelato truck helped Phillips win his first House marketing campaign in 2018, when he unseated five-term Republican Erik Paulsen. While Phillips’ district in largely prosperous larger Minneapolis has turn into extra Democratic-leaning, he confused that he’s a average centered on his suburban constituents.
While working for president, nevertheless, Phillips moved additional to the left, endorsing totally government-funded well being care by “Medicare for All.”
___
Weissert reported from Washington.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”