Dean Phillips launches 2024 presidential campaign
After months of hinting at a presidential run, a Minnesota congressman has announced his candidacy.
Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) posted a campaign ad on X, formerly known as Twitter, Thursday night. The platform deleted the video just hours after it was posted, though it is unclear why.
Phillips, who has represented Minnesota’s 3rd District since 2019, filed paperwork Friday, on the state’s filing deadline, to join the Democratic presidential primary in New Hampshire.
Starting as far back as late last year, Phillips has called for President Joe Biden to not run for reelection, saying he believes “it’s time for a new generation.”
Then over the summer, he reportedly started meeting with donors and weighing a presidential run to challenge Biden.
Minnesota Congressman Dean Phillips announces his bid for president in New Hampshire on Oct. 27, 2023. (KSTP-TV)
He told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS in August that he hadn’t yet made a decision but said if no other prominent Democrat stepped up to challenge the president he would continue to consider a run himself.
In a speech announcing his candidacy, Phillips said he’s running not to oppose Biden, who he says has his “appreciation and gratitude,” but because, “it’s time for the torch to be passed to a new generation of American leaders” and he believes he can carry that torch.
He also said America has a “crisis of community and of individual initiative and a problem of participation and priorities,” with too many people living paycheck to paycheck, anger and violence increasing, and health care and medicine too costly for most.
“These are the real issues of the 2024 presidential election in the United States, and I am ready to get to work,” Phillips said.
Click the video box below to see his full speech on Friday morning.
[anvplayer video=”5196890″ station=”998122″]
Earlier Friday morning, Ron Harris, who announced his campaign for the seat currently held by Phillips earlier this month, issued the following statement in reaction to Phillips’ intent to file for the presidency:
“I respect Dean’s service to our community and thank him for the work he’s done for us, but his decision to run in a primary against President Biden is just plain dangerous. Attempts to weaken President Biden only serve to help Donald Trump and embolden the extreme MAGA agenda which poses an existential threat to our country. I’m proud to stand with Democrats at home in MN-03 and across America – unified in our support for the only man who’s taken on Trump and won: President Joe Biden.”
Ron Harris
The only other Democrat running in the 2024 primary is self-help author Marianne Williamson.
However, the last and only time a sitting president was not nominated by their party for a second term was in 1852, when Franklin Pierce became the nation’s 14th president.
When asked about Phillips’ campaign on Thursday, Governor Tim Walz waived it off, saying he’s not going to be the nominee.
5 EYEWITNESS NEWS Chief Political Reporter Tom Hauser is in New Hampshire and will be taking a closer look at why Phillips is running. Check back for updates.
