Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) — the House backbencher who launched a longshot candidacy for the president on the grounds that President Joe Biden was too old to run again, presaging Kamala Harris’ taking his spot on the ticket — is at peace with his role in the 2024 election.
Phillips was widely criticized by his fellow Democrats for hammering Biden on his electability and particularly about his age. The Biden campaign took the tack of largely ignoring Phillips, which ended up raising more concerns about Biden than it settled.
Those worries ultimately ignited into near-mutiny after Biden’s halting performance in his debate against Republican then-candidate Donald Trump in June. That debate, and the party’s reaction to it, eventually resulted in Biden dropping out, Harris succeeding him as nominee and Trump’s eventual victory.
“I would do it a thousand times again,” Philips said of his White House bid, in a brief interview Tuesday off the House floor. “My only regret — and it’s a big one — is that so many of my colleagues who felt exactly the same way couldn’t find the courage to say and do something about it.”
Harris’ loss and an erosion in support from some pro-Democratic interest groups, like union workers and Latino voters, has left the party in an introspective mood. Phillips said the election results were foreseeable and he did in fact see the party was headed for trouble.
“I’m pleased that eventually my very strong belief was recognized as productive and not an ego trip. And that’s satisfying,” he said. “The way that this all turned out was why I tried to do what I did, and it still turned out the same way.”
Phillips garnered almost 20% of the vote in the New Hampshire primary, but his support ebbed quickly soon after. On Super Tuesday, he came in behind both the “uncommitted” vote and author Marianne Williamson in some states. He dropped out soon after.
Phillips’ candidacy was by no means the only reason Biden stepped back, Harris failed to win the White House and Democrats lost both the House and Senate. Consumers upset with inflation and the Republicans’ relentless focus on immigration, a weak spot for Democrats — as well as missteps by the Harris campaign — also played parts.
But Phillips was out front first with his doubts about Biden, which he feels have been vindicated.
At a press conference Tuesday, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) hinted he did not think big changes in the Democrats’ political approach were needed, saying Democrats had fought Republicans to a draw given the very narrow House majority the GOP is expected to see.
Jeffries disputed Republicans’ claims that their wins on Election Day show voters wanted to overhaul the government. “The notion of some mandate to make massive far-right policy changes, it doesn’t exist,” he said.
Phillips traced the party’s problems to being seen as overbearing on cultural issues and not focused enough on winning. (Phillips himself will be leaving Congress in January, as he did not run for reelection. His district in the Minneapolis suburbs elected a Democrat, Kelly Morrison, to replace him.)
“Representation begins with listening, and I’m just afraid we have become a party more focused on imposition than listening, and condemnation instead of invitation,” he said. “This [loss] is not because of one group or because of one initiative or one person. This is an ethos.”
Phillips said Republicans do a better job organizationally in aligning “their interests, their platform, their people and their packaging” than Democrats.
“I don’t sense that energy amongst Democrats of wanting to actually win. I sense an energy of wanting to make points and take positions, but not solve problems, and that’s consequential.”
Specifically, Phillips said Democrats needed to reexamine their approach to border policy and “wokeness,” something that’s been cited by some pundits, including Bill Clinton strategist James Carville, for the losses.
Phillips acknowledged “wokeness” was hard to define, “but we know it when we see it.”
“That may reflect our core values but that does not mean we should be leading with that,” he said.
Instead, he said Democrats should focus on a pragmatic progressivism.
“Pragmatism means you deal with what is, not what you want to be,” he said. “That means if we want to win and succeed and actually pass the laws that we consider to be important for the country, then we have to focus on winning.”
