Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips launches presidential challenge to Joe Biden

Concord, New Hampshire - Minnesota Congressman Dean Phillips is officially taking on incumbent Joe Biden in the 2024 Democratic presidential primary.

Minnesota Congressman Dean Phillips has launched his 2024 Democratic primary challenge to incumbent President Joe Biden.
Minnesota Congressman Dean Phillips has launched his 2024 Democratic primary challenge to incumbent President Joe Biden.  © Kevin Dietsch / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP

Phillips is set to celebrate the big news during a campaign rally in Concord, New Hampshire, on Friday after filing paperwork with the Federal Election Commission one day prior.

"I didn’t set out to enter this race. But it looks like on our current course, the Democrats will lose and Trump will be our President again," he wrote on X.

"President Biden is a good man and someone I tremendously respect. I understand why other Democrats don’t want to run against him, and why we are here," he continued. "This is a last-minute campaign, but desperate times call for desperate measures, and courage is an important value to me."

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Phillips has been critical of 80-year-old Biden's reelection bid given his advanced age. Although the congressman's voting record is extremely close to the president's, he says he believes a younger person should be sitting in the White House.

The centrist Democrat has served as a US representative for Minnesota's third congressional district since 2019 after flipping the seat blue in 2018.

Before that, he was president and CEO of his family's liquor business, the Phillips Distilling Company, until it was sold. He also ran the company Talenti Gelato and started a small cafe chain in the Twin Cities called Penny's Coffee.

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President Joe Biden is still the frontrunner in the growing Democratic primary field.
President Joe Biden is still the frontrunner in the growing Democratic primary field.  © REUTERS

The Saint Paul native's choice to announce his challenge in the Granite State is highly symbolic. Biden is not expected to appear on the ballot there due to complications with the Delegate Selection Rules for the 2024 Democratic National Convention which dubbed South Carolina the first primary state.

New Hampshire state law requires the state to host the nation's first primaries. That means the elections in New Hampshire will take place before those in South Carolina, but the winner of the New Hampshire primary will not be awarded delegates to the convention.

The Biden campaign has said he still intends to appear on the general election ballot in New Hampshire.

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The Democratic primary field also includes 2020 presidential contender Marianne Williamson and The Young Turks creator Cenk Uygur.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who was initially running on the Democratic ticket, last month announced he would continue his campaign as an Independent.

Cover photo: Kevin Dietsch / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP

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