Despite historic low approval ratings and numerous calls to step aside heading into the 2024 presidential election, President Joe Biden only faces one serious primary challenge for the Democratic Party nomination.
Over the weekend, his rival suddenly announced he was resigning his role as an elected lawmaker.
Phillips announced Friday he will not seek reelection to Congress in 2024. Speculation quickly swirled that Phillips was being pushed out by Democratic Party leaders.
Indeed, Phillips has won no friends inside the Democratic Party since he admitted that Democrats need younger voices to avoid an election loss next fall.
Several prominent Democrats — including Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz — have criticized Phillips’ decision to run against Biden, likening it to a “political sideshow.”
Anna Mathews, executive director of the Republican Party of Minnesota, said in a Friday message to The Associated Press that “Dean Phillips has been openly sharing what no other Democrat will: Joe Biden’s failed policies are going to be detrimental to Democrats up and down the ticket next year.”
She added the state’s GOP looks forward to bringing Republican representation back to voters in Minnesota’s 3rd Congressional District next November.
“My journey to public service began the morning after the 2016 election, when I faced the reality that democracy requires participation – not observation,” the Minnesota congressman said in a statement.
“Seven years have passed, each presenting historic opportunities to practice a brand of optimistic politics that repairs relationships and improves people’s lives. We have met those moments, and after three terms it is time to pass the torch,” he added.
Phillips’ term in Congress will end on Jan. 3, 2025.
He is a moderate from the largely well-to-do suburbs of Minneapolis. Before Phillips won the seat as a Democrat in 2018, the area had a history of electing Republicans to the U.S. House.
In October, Phillips became the first elected Democrat to challenge Biden for the nomination.
His run offers a symbolic challenge to national Democrats trying to project the idea that there is no reason to doubt the president’s electability — even as many Americans question whether the 81-year-old Biden should serve another term.
Phillips is one of the wealthiest members of Congress and heir to his stepfather’s Phillips Distilling Company empire, which holds major vodka and schnapps brands. Phillips once served as that company’s president but also ran the gelato maker Talenti.
His grandmother was the late Pauline Phillips, better known as the advice columnist “Dear Abby.”
The Horn editorial team and the Associated Press contributed to this article