Dean Phillips says Biden could ‘pass the torch’ after a poor early state showing

EXCLUSIVE — Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN) said it isn’t too late for President Joe Biden to still “pass the torch” to another Democratic candidate before the 2024 election.

In an interview with NewsNation’s Dan Abrams airing Friday, Phillips told the host, “I think it’s still possible” that Biden steps aside and allows a new generation of the Democratic Party to take the lead. The interview was exclusively previewed by the Washington Examiner.

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“I think if we show well in New Hampshire, Michigan, in some of the early states, it’s absolutely possible,” he continued.

The Minnesota Democrat has claimed previously that his path to the Democratic nomination goes through New Hampshire, where Biden’s campaign failed to file for the first in the nation primary, instead complying with the Democratic National Committee, which recently shifted the primary calendar to give the coveted role to South Carolina.

Phillips has focused his on-the-ground campaigning in the state, hoping a strong start in the primary, aided by Biden’s absence, could be a launching pad for the rest of the country. There is a write-in campaign in the Granite State on Biden’s behalf, but it lacks the time and resources of a presidential campaign and is subject to the will of a still angry Democratic primary electorate. Despite this, many of the state’s prominent Democratic leaders have come out in support of the write-in effort, citing the high stakes in 2024 with former President Donald Trump likely on the Republican ticket.

While some Democrats make the argument that Biden must be renominated specifically to take on Trump, Phillips believes the opposite. In a second clip from the upcoming interview, he told Abrams, “I have not seen one shred of evidence — not one shred that Joe Biden is in a position to beat Donald Trump.”

The host referenced critics who say Phillips is “alarmist” about polls in which Biden would lose to Trump. He responded that it would be “delusional” not to be alarmist over such polls and, “It’s going to take some time for that delusion to pass.”

“I tried for a year to encourage the president to pass the torch — spent a better part of six months encouraging candidates who are better known than I am right now to enter the stage,” he recalled.

“This is what you do in democracy,” he said of his challenge to Biden. “You practice by actually having competitions.”

Phillips’s polling stature nationally sits at roughly 4%, which isn’t demonstrative of much of a challenge to Biden. However, with his focus on New Hampshire and the opportunity Biden has left him in the state, Phillips has quickly managed to snag 10% of the Democratic primary electorate, according to a November University of New Hampshire Survey Center poll.

He surpassed Marianne Williamson with 9% but remained behind Biden, who had 65% support.

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While Biden still leads significantly, his support dropped from 78% following his refusal to file for the state’s primary.

The New Hampshire primary will take place Jan. 23.