US Representative Dean Phillips of Minnesota ended his long-shot 2024 Democratic presidential bid on Wednesday, March 6, after failing to win a primary contest against incumbent President Joe Biden. Phillips told WCCO Radio in Minneapolis that he was endorsing Biden.
Phillips, a 55-year-old multimillionaire who is among the richest members of Congress, built his White House bid around calls for a new generation of Democratic leadership while spending freely from his personal fortune. Yet the little-known congressman ultimately failed to resonate with the party's voters.
Phillips was the only elected Democrat to challenge Biden for the presidency. Phillips' failure to gain traction is further proof that Democratic voters are behind the 81-year-old Biden even if many have misgivings about his age or his reelection prospects.
The president has long cast himself as uniquely qualified to beat Donald Trump again after his 2020 win, and his reelection campaign largely ignored Phillips except to point out that he voted with the administration nearly 100% of the time in Congress.
Phillips often argued Biden was too old to serve a second term. However, in a social media post Wednesday, Phillips noted that Biden had once visited his home while serving as vice president and that his "decency and wisdom were rarities in politics then, and even more so today." "We only have two of them," Phillips told WCCO. "And it’s going to be Donald Trump or Joe Biden. And while indeed I think the president 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." Phillips' endorsement of Biden appears to foreclose running as a third-party challenger on a potential No Labels ticket.
Phillips has already announced he’s not seeking reelection in his suburban Minneapolis congressional district.