Democratic Rep. Dean Phillips said Democrats are ‘deluded’ if they believe President Joe Biden can beat former President Donald Trump in a 2024 general election rematch.
Phillips launched a longshot presidential campaign in October and pulled about 20 percent of the Democratic New Hampshire primary vote Tuesday, though was beaten by Biden due to a successful write-in campaign.
Due to a Biden-endorsed Democratic National Committee decision to reorder the Democratic primaries and make South Carolina first, the president’s name did not appear on New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary ballot.
Phillips sat down with CNN’s Kasie Hunt Wednesday morning in Amherst, New Hampshire and told the journalist, ‘The country is simply not going to vote for Joe Biden.’
‘And I’m trying to wake up my party to that truth. I’m a Democrat, I don’t want to see Donald Trump return to the White House,’ the Minnesota lawmaker said.
Democratic Rep. Dean Phillips said Wednesday morning on CNN that Democrats are ‘deluded’ if they believe President Joe Biden can beat former President Donald Trump in a 2024 general election rematch
Democratic Rep. Dean Phillips held an election night party at the Millyard Museum in downtown Manchester, New Hampshire, telling supporters he would continue on with his challenge against President Joe Biden after garnering 21 percent of the vote
While Hunt pressed Phillips, one of the richest members of Congress, on the millions he’s spent on his young campaign, the congressman said she was missing the point.
‘The numbers that matter are 33% or 34% approval numbers,’ Phillips argued. ‘He’s losing in the battleground states to a man who’s under indictment, who’s had his businesses go bankrupt, who’s had his foundation shut down, who is a disaster and we are sleep-walking in[to it].’
During a watch party in Manchester Tuesday night, Phillips told about 100 supporters that he would press on.
He told Hunt that he had a few ‘surprises’ coming up in South Carolina, which holds a Democratic primary on February 3.
Phillips also said he would stay in the race until enough people know him for there to be accurate polling on how he would fair against Trump, versus Biden as the Democratic nominee, in the November general election.
‘I’m in this until I can absolutely generate name recognition to a point where people can compare a poll of me against Donald Trump and Joe Biden against Donald Trump,’ he said.
He argued Trump would beat Biden – and if Trump’s rival Nikki Haley was able to win the nomination – he’d beat him even more badly.
A sign for Dean Phillips sits in the snow near a polling place in downtown Manchester, New Hampshire. The Minnesota congressman received 21 percent of the vote from Granite State Democrats. President Joe Biden’s name wasn’t on the ballot
‘People who think Joe Biden is going to be Donald Trump I think are deluded,’ Phillips said.
Besides Phillips, self-help guru Marianne Williamson has also said she’ll continue in the Democratic primary fight after only receiving about 4.6 percent of the New Hampshire primary vote Tuesday.
As soon as polls closed at 8 p.m., CNN and The Associated Press almost immediately called the Granite State race for Biden.
Phillips acknowledged that Biden had indeed won the write-in campaign – garnering around 68 percent of the vote with 80 percent reporting.
‘Congratulations to President Biden who absolutely won tonight,’ he said.
But added, ‘But by no means in a way that a strong incumbent president should, but I respect him, he won.’
He tipped his hat to Williamson as well.
‘She’s been toiling at this for now for two times. She has no attention from the media. Her propositions are ones we should all be thinking about,’ he said of the best-selling author, who was holding her own election night shindig down the street.
‘And I think her courage and her tenacity at a time where we need competition not a coronation should be celebrated by everybody here,’ he told his supporters.
The 55-year-old congressman also noted Trump’s win over former U.N. Amb. Nikki Haley and praised her for staying in the race.
‘I want to celebrate Nikki Haley tonight, for the tenacity she has to stay in this race and still try to take that man down becauase you know what? I think we need to,’ Phillips said.
‘And I think having her in the race and me in the race could be the most important decisions for both of us in our lifetimes,’ he added.