Rep. Dean Phillips‘s (D-MN) long-shot presidential campaign has received less-than glowing reviews from several of his Democratic colleagues in the House of Representatives.
Several House Democrats expressed their displeasure with Phillips’s campaign to Axios. Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) called the effort a “total joke” and “very disrespectful of the president and the party.”
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“He seems to be taking a page out of the Trump playbook,” Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA) told the outlet. “It makes me wonder…if he’s a real Democrat.”
Phillips has made some moves in his short presidential campaign that have caused the ire of his fellow Democrats, including saying that Vice President Kamala Harris’s low approval rating makes “many think she’s not well positioned” to succeed President Joe Biden.
Garcia accused Phillips of “resorting to attacking” Harris because he was “floundering” and said that he was torching “his entire reputation.”
The Minnesota Democrat later apologized for his comments about Harris, but his line of criticism of the vice president matched up with his critiques of why he believes Biden is not the right nominee for Democrats in 2024. Phillips’s campaign has focused on Biden’s unpopularity among voters in the Democratic Party and outside of the party, warning it could be a liability for the party in the general election.
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Phillips is far behind Biden in the RealClearPolitics polling average, with only 3.3% of support compared to Biden’s 67.6%.
He will be on the primary ballot in New Hampshire next month — Biden will not. Allies of the president are seeking to avoid an upset in the Granite State while following DNC guidelines by organizing a write-in campaign for Biden for the New Hampshire primary. That effort appears to be running into some obstacles as many New Hampshire Democrats are angry and offended by the DNC changing the primary calendar.
