So much for Minnesota nice.
Ailing Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) lobbed potshots at fellow Gopher Stater Rep. Dean Phillips on Wednesday night, mocking his primary challenge to President Biden
“I would feel terrible if I showed up and got everybody sick,” Smith, suffering from the flu, said in a video message played at the Washington Press Club Foundation’s annual Congressional Dinner.
“The only way it would have worked is if everybody had agreed to get up and leave the room when I started talking,” Smith, 65, added before coming to the punch line.
“You know, kind of like a Dean Phillips rally.”
Phillips, 55, was both pitied and mocked last month after New Hampshire voters no-showed an event he had scheduled in the state’s largest city ahead of the Jan. 23 primary, in which he received just under 20% of the vote.
“Poor Dean,” continued Smith, whose remarks were first reported by Politico.
“He took a real beating in New Hampshire, but he’s staying on the ballot for South Carolina, because you can’t spell Dean Phillips with only one ‘L.’”
While most Democratic officials have either ignored or criticized Phillips for challenging Biden, Smith’s roasting represented the most pointed attack yet on the outgoing congressman.
A spokesperson for the senator declined to expand on Smith’s comments, while the Phillips campaign did not immediately respond to an inquiry from The Post.
Biden received 63.9% of the vote in New Hampshire despite not being listed on the primary ballot due to a scheduling dispute between state officials and the Democratic National Committee.
The Minnesota congressman had hoped to make a splash in the Granite State and convince voters to vote for him due to Biden’s age and his perceived inability to defeat Donald Trump in November.
Phillips is indeed continuing on to South Carolina, where Democrats are holding their first official primary on Saturday, and hopes to make it through Super Tuesday on March 5.
At a New Hampshire rally last month, Phillips told reporters he had already spent $5 million of his own funds on his campaign and plans to spend more.
“This is the most important philanthropic pursuit of my life, and it is costly, and I put $5 million in — which is a lot more than anticipated,” said Phillips, who made his fortune partly due to his ownership of the Talenti gelato company.
“We’re now starting to see Americans from all over the country start helping us out without any real finance mechanism, without any access to the Democratic machine or donor list, and it’s really quite a sight,” he went on, “so I’ll do what’s necessary, because I think it’s important.”