Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) speaks during a press conference on the Protected Investments Act outside the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, May 12, 2022.
Kevin Dietch Getty Images News | Getty Images
Rep. Dean Phillips, a Minnesota Democrat who is challenging President Joe Biden for his party’s presidential nomination, announced Friday that he will not seek reelection to Congress in 2024.
“After three terms, it’s time to pass the torch,” Phillips said. statement.
“No political party has a monopoly on solutions. We must stop fighting each other and start fighting for each other, before it’s too late,” Phillips said in a statement Friday. He warned that the United States is in a “crisis of cooperation, common sense, and truth.”
“The future is very bright, as long as we have the courage to choose to seek it. Keep the faith!” he said.
His calls for unity may not resonate with fellow Democrats, some of whom have criticized Phillips since he ran in a high-profile primary against the incumbent president last month. Some people do.
Mr. Biden, who announced his re-election campaign several months ago, has made little comment about Mr. Phillips’ challenge.
“Congressman Phillips has voted nearly 100% in favor of President Biden’s policies, and the president has supported the Biden-Harris legislative agenda,” White House press secretary Andrew Bates said in a statement to NBC News late Friday. We will miss out on support.”
Phillips said he is running for president to shore up Democratic support given polls show low approval ratings for Biden and his administration.
Several recent polls have found that former President Donald Trump, the clear front-runner in the 2024 Republican primary, is beating Biden in several key primary states.
CNBC reported in early November that Phillips has seen little support from major donors in his home state of Minnesota, and that some of his previous financial backers have asked him to return their donations.
On Wednesday, Phillips told The Atlantic that Vice President Kamala Harris is “not adequately prepared and does not have the right temperament and the right abilities to do the job” and that “knowing her… He apologized for what he said he had heard “from other people.” ”
After this comment galvanized support from Democrats; backlash“I should not have relied on anyone else’s opinion” about X, Phillips wrote, adding that he apologized to Harris and “all those affected by similar situations.”
Phillips flipped Minnesota’s 3rd Congressional District blue in 2018 and won the most in his career by a double-digit margin in the 2022 election. Democratic National Committee member Ron Harris announced last month: Major Phillips District Campaign.
Phillips is a member of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus. His current term in the House of Representatives ends on January 3, 2025.
