Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN) said he’ll be ‘making decisions’ about his Democratic presidential campaign in the days ahead, as he’ll likely lose in his home state of Minnesota.
“As the only candidate not losing to Donald Trump in any poll, I’m grateful for the beautifully orchestrated outpouring of wishes to end my mission to ensure his defeat,” Phillips said on X as voters in 15 states set out to cast their ballot. “I’m touched by the thoughtfulness, and will be making decisions over the coming days about how we can best fulfill that objective.”
Phillips echoed similar sentiments after losing to President Joe Biden in the first-in-the-nation New Hampshire primary. Biden won with 63.9% of the votes as a write-in candidate, compared to Phillips’s 19.6%. In conceding to the president, the Democrat told Politico he’d need to see polls showing a head-to-head matchup against former President Donald Trump before dropping out of the race.
“I will be introducing myself to the country. When a reasonable time has passed, when enough people at least know who I am, and we have legitimate polls that test me against Donald Trump and Joe Biden against Donald Trump, at least Democrats and I will have all the data we need to make a decision,” Phillips said in January.
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The Minnesota representative’s long-shot presidential bid began in October, encouraging Biden to pass the torch. His efforts to gain recognition among voters has been an uphill battle; last week, Phillips lost his third Democratic primary election, coming far behind Biden and “uncommitted” in Michigan.
Phillips has cited Biden’s poor polling on several issues as a rationale for remaining in the race, telling Politico he would “fold it and get behind him” if the president “miraculously improves and he is in position to actually win this thing.”
