Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) reached out to several Democratic governors earlier this year and implored them to challenge President Biden in the 2024 primary election before launching his own far-reaching campaign against the incumbent.
Phillips’ approach was unsuccessful and only the staff of Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker heard his speech.
“They had their staff take the call,” Phillips said in an interview with the Atlantic, published Friday.
“They didn’t accept the call.”
“Gretchen Whitmer’s assistant was very considerate… JB Pritzker’s delegate was somewhat hostile,” the Democratic presidential candidate added.
Phillips, who launched his campaign to unseat the 80-year-old president on Friday, also noted during the wide-ranging interview that he found the behavior of his opponent’s troubled son, Hunter Biden, “appalling.”
The 53-year-old first son was indicted on three felony weapons charges last month, and Hunter could face additional criminal cases in D.C. and Los Angeles for tax fraud and illegal foreign lobbying, among other potential charges.
Rep. Dean Phillips reached out to several Democratic governors earlier this year and implored them to challenge President Biden in the 2024 primary election before launching his own far-reaching campaign.Getty Images
Phillips, 54, argued that President Biden, although he acted “heroically” in supporting his son through his legal difficulties, is now considered by voters “as corrupt as Trump.”
Poll numbers bear witness to the Minnesota Democrat’s claim.
A Fox News poll from earlier this month shows that 40% of voters believe Biden did something illegal when it came to his son’s foreign transactions, up from 38% in August and 35% in December 2022. .
“I’m analyzing the polling data and I’m analyzing all of it. The president’s numbers just aren’t good and they aren’t getting better,” Democratic strategist James Carville told the Atlantic about what he conveyed to Phillips in conversations before his campaign launch.
Phillips’ approach was unsuccessful and only the staff of Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker heard his speech.
“I talk to a lot of people who do a lot of congressional and state polling, and they all say the same thing. There is no outlier; There is no other opinion… The question is, has the country already made a decision?” Carville said, adding that top Democrats agree with his bleak assessment of Biden.
“No one says, ‘James, you’re wrong’… They say, ‘James, you can’t say that,’” he said.
Former Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-La.), who now serves as co-chairman of Biden’s campaign, criticized Phillips’ attempt to primary Biden as a “vanity project” for the Minnesota Democrat, adding that the congressman doesn’t “give a shit” about the Democratic Party.
He also noted that Biden could lose the 2024 general election due to Phillips’ insurgent campaign.
Pritzker was among the candidates to whom Phillips proposed.AP
“History tells us that when the incumbent president faces a primary challenge, it weakens him for the general election,” Richmond told the Atlantic.
“No party has ever survived that.”
Phillips revealed that if his campaign is struggling to rally support by March 6, 2024 (the day after Super Tuesday, when 15 states and American Samoa will hold primaries and caucuses) he will end his candidacy and “support the president in a great vote.” shape.”
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Source: vtt.edu.vn