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Rep. Dean Phillips on Wednesday dropped out of 2024 Democratic race for the White House, halting his steep uphill primary challenge against President Biden.
The transfer comes after the three-term congressman from Minnesota suffered dismal outcomes on Super Tuesday, when 15 states from coast to coast – together with his house state – held Democratic presidential nominating contests.
“I ran for Congress in 2018 to resist Donald Trump, I was trapped in the Capitol in 2021 because of Donald Trump, and I ran for President in 2024 to resist Donald Trump again – because Americans were demanding an alternative, and democracy demands options,” Phillips wrote on X. “But it is clear that alternative is not me. And it is clear that Joe Biden is OUR candidate and OUR opportunity to demonstrate what type of country America is and intends to be.”
“I ask you join me in mobilizing, energizing, and doing everything you can to help keep a man of decency and integrity in the White House. That’s Joe Biden,” he mentioned.
Phillips, one of many wealthiest members of Congress, final yr repeatedly cited the now-81-year-old president’s age and criticized Biden for “not passing the torch” to the following era of Democratic leaders.
Phillips urged {that a} severe primary contender challenge the president for the get together’s 2024 nomination. Biden continues to endure from underwater approval scores amongst many Americans and faces considerations – not simply from Republicans and independents but in addition from Democrats – over his bodily and psychological stamina.
When no different main Democrats thought-about operating against Biden, the multimillionaire businessman and co-founder of a gelato firm turned three-term House Democrat from Minnesota launched his personal marketing campaign in late October.
Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN)(R) holds a rally outdoors of the N.H. Statehouse after handing over his declaration of candidacy type for President to the New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan, on October 27, 2023 in Concord, New Hampshire. (Gaelen Morse/Getty Images)
“The country’s being very clear right now. They do not want Joe Biden to be the president. And they don’t want Donald Trump to be the president,” Phillips emphasised on the marketing campaign path late final yr. “Whichever party breaks that logjam will win the White House, the Senate and the House.”
And Phillips instructed Fox News Digital on the time that his mission was “to demonstrate that Americans are sick and tired of the nonsense. That we have a crisis that cannot be addressed by either Donald Trump or frankly, President Biden, and it’s time for change.”
Phillips reiterated that he was operating on behalf of “the exhausted majority” as he spotlighted points such because the nationwide debt, navy spending and excessive taxes.
And he closely criticized the president and the Democratic National Committee for not permitting primary debates between Biden and his challengers.
Phillips centered most of his time and sources in the course of the first three months of his marketing campaign on New Hampshire, the place the president’s identify wasn’t on the poll within the state’s Jan. 23 unsanctioned Democratic primary.
2020 Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang (left) groups up with Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota, who’s operating for the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination, at a Dean marketing campaign occasion, on Jan. 18, 2024 in Manchester, New Hampshire (Fox News – Monica Oroz)
But Biden ended up successful 64% of the vote, thanks in nice half to a write-in marketing campaign on the president’s behalf organized by some high New Hampshire Democrats. Phillips got here in second, with just below 20% of the vote.
Phillips vowed to say within the race as he spoke to supporters in New Hampshire on primary evening.
“The polls are saying he [Biden] cannot win, his approval numbers are saying he can’t win,” Phillips argued. “We’re going to go to South Carolina, to Michigan, and 47 other states.”
But in early February, the president received the South Carolina primary in a landslide, capturing over 96% of the vote. Phillips and best-selling creator and non secular adviser Marianne Williamson mixed for lower than 5,000 votes.
Phillips mentioned after his South Carolina shellacking that he would keep within the race as “a mission of principle”.
U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minnesota, speaks on the South Carolina Democratic Party’s First-in-the-Nation Dinner, Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024, in Columbia, S.C. Phillips is difficult President Joe Biden, the dinner’s keynote speaker, for this yr’s Democratic presidential nomination. (AP Photo/Meg Kinnard) (AP Photo/Meg Kinnard)
Two weeks later, Phillips was compelled to put off a large portion of his marketing campaign employees, resulting from lackluster fundraising. But a Phillips spokesperson dismissed speak that the congressman would finish his White House bid, saying Phillips deliberate to stay within the race till the Democratic National Convention in August.
The ends in Michigan’s Feb. 27 primary had been additionally disappointing, as Biden captured 81% of the vote, with Phillips at just below 3%, barely behind Williamson. Thirteen p.c of these casting ballots voted uncommitted, in a transfer to protest the Biden Administration’s help of Israel in its struggle with Hamas.
Phillips was additionally within the marketing campaign highlight resulting from a few controversies.
He confronted criticism for scrubbing “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” language from his marketing campaign web site after he was publicly urged to take action by certainly one of his donors.
And Phillips briefly flirted with a 3rd get together run on a possible ticket by the centrist No Labels group earlier than shortly backtracking.
As he dropped out of the race, Phillips thanked his supporters.
“To all who supported my effort, thank you. We will continue the important work to ensure a more responsive, democratic, and generationally diverse political system,” he wrote in his social media submit.
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