Democratic Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota does not think President Joe Biden should be his party’s 2024 presidential nominee.
“I want him to preserve his legacy, not to compromise it,” Phillips said, according to the Washington Post. “And this is exactly why I’m asking — pass the torch, open the stage.”
Former President Donald Trump has been trouncing the rest of the GOP presidential primary field and appears to be on track to win the Republican presidential nomination for the third time in a row.
Phillips, who has served as a member of Congress since 2019, is concerned that Biden would lose to Trump in the general election.
“We’re at grave risk of another Trump presidency,” Phillips said, according to the Post. “I’m doing this to prevent a return of Donald Trump to the White House.”
“I just felt compelled to raise my voice in the face of what I consider to be an unwillingness to confront the truth right now,” he said.
“I do not want a repeat of 2016 when we essentially anointed someone, it was her turn, and … look what happened. I think we’re sleepwalking into the very same mistake again,” he warned during an interview with PBS NewsHour White House correspondent Laura Barrón-López.
He is calling for “moderate governors” to think about getting into the Democratic primary.
Democratic Rep. Dean Phillips explains why he wants to see a primary challenge to Bidenwww.youtube.com
While the lawmaker told Barrón-López that he does not expect to challenge Biden himself, he seems to be leaving the door open to the possibility of mounting a presidential bid.
“If, and only if, the president doesn’t pass the torch, if his numbers continue to look like they do right now, and nobody is willing to be an alternative, then I will be making a really important decision, and I have not made that yet,” he said, according to the Washington Post.
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