Too nice for Minnesota.
Sick Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) took shots at fellow Gopher Stater Rep. Dean Phillips on Wednesday night, mocking his primary challenge to President Biden.
“I would feel terrible if I showed up and made everyone sick,” Smith, who suffers from the flu, said in a video message played at the Washington Press Club Foundation’s annual congressional dinner.
“The only way it would have worked is if everyone had agreed to get up and leave the room when I started talking,” Smith, 65, added before getting to the joke.
“You know, kind of like a Dean Phillips rally.”
Phillips, 55, was both pitied and mocked last month after New Hampshire voters failed to show up for an event he had scheduled in the state’s largest city ahead of the Jan. 23 primary, in which received just under 20% of the votes.
“Poor Dean,” continued Smith, whose comments were first reported by Politico.
Sen. Tina Smith criticized her Minnesota colleague for not dropping out of the 2024 race. Getty Images
“He took a real beating in New Hampshire, but he’ll stay on the ballot for South Carolina, because you can’t spell Dean Phillips with just one ‘L.'”
While most Democratic officials have ignored or criticized Phillips for challenging Biden, the attack on Smith represented the most direct attack yet against the outgoing congressman.
A spokesperson for the senator declined to expand on Smith’s comments, while Phillips’ campaign did not immediately respond to a question from The Post.
Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) speaks at the South Carolina First in the Nation dinner at the South Carolina State Fairgrounds in Columbia, S.C., Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024 AP
Biden received 63.9% of the vote in New Hampshire despite not appearing on the primary ballot due to a scheduling dispute between state officials and the Democratic National Committee.
The Minnesota congressman hoped to make a splash in the Granite State and convince voters to vote for him given Biden’s age and apparent inability to defeat Donald Trump in November.
In fact, Phillips continues his way to South Carolina, where Democrats will hold their first official primary on Saturday, and hopes to make it through Super Tuesday on March 5.
Dean Phillips greets a supporter as he arrives at Londonderry High School during the presidential primary election, in Londonderry, New Hampshire. REUTERS
At a rally in New Hampshire last month, Phillips told reporters that he had already spent $5 million of his own funds on his campaign and plans to spend more.
“This is the most important philanthropy of my life, and it’s expensive, and I’ve invested $5 million, which is a lot more than I anticipated,” said Phillips, who made his fortune in part through his ownership of the Talenti ice creams. .
“Now we’re starting to see Americans across the country starting to help us without any real financial mechanism, without any access to the Democratic machine or the donor list, and it’s really quite a spectacle,” he continued, “so I’ll do what “That is necessary, because I think it is important.”
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Source: vtt.edu.vn