Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., has stepped into the 2024 presidential election race and is challenging President Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination. Phillips announced his White House bid in an interview with CBS on Thursday, Oct. 26.
Phillips, 54, has been a loud critic of Biden’s re-election efforts, calling on other, younger Democrats to step up to run against and replace the 80-year-old president.
“My real call to action right now is not about me. The call to action is to ask the president to pass the torch,” Phillips said in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” in August 2023.
Earlier this month, Phillips stepped down from his leadership role as co-chair of the Democratic Policy and Communications Caucus after unsuccessfully calling on younger Democrats with national recognition to challenge Biden for the Democratic nomination.
Phillips is not the only lawmaker to call on the next generation of leaders to step up. On the other side of the aisle, Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah., recently announced his retirement citing his age as the reason adding that it is time to pass the torch.
“The fact that at the end of a second term, I would be in my mid 80s and I think it’s time for guys like me to get out of the way and have people of the next generation step forward,” Romney said.
According to a recent CNN poll, two-thirds of Democrats agree with Phillips, wanting the party to choose another candidate besides Biden, with nearly half citing Biden’s age as the main concern.
Though the White House has not commented on Phillips’ announcement, on Tuesday, Oct. 24, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre responded to reports of Phillips joining the race by saying the administration appreciates the congressman’s “almost 100% support of the president.”