With Andrew Yang in Tow, Dean Phillips Finally Draws a Crowd

Mr. Phillips is mounting a long-shot Democratic primary challenge against President Biden, whose supporters are doing a write-in campaign in New Hampshire.

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Andrew Yang lent some star power to Dean Phillips’s long-shot primary campaign against President Biden at two events on Thursday in New Hampshire. They drew a crowd in Hanover, their second stop of the day.

For Representative Dean Phillips, challenging President Biden in the Democratic primary race has produced some humbling moments, like when he failed to draw a single voter to a meet-and-greet this month.

“Sometimes if you build it, they don’t come,” he told reporters then.

But on Thursday, they did come to campaign events for Mr. Phillips, who had to squeeze through a crowd at the University of New Hampshire at Manchester.

Whether the gathering — a mixture of disillusioned Democrats, undecided voters and curiosity-seekers — was for him or the man standing to his right was another story.

He was flanked by Andrew Yang, whose unsuccessful run for president in 2020 brought him some star power as he developed a devoted internet following known as the “Yang Gang.”

Mr. Yang formally endorsed Mr. Phillips later on Thursday, five days before New Hampshire holds the nation’s first primaries. He argued that Mr. Biden would be a liability if he faced former President Donald J. Trump again in the November election.

“Joe Biden, who I supported the last time, in my view, is going to deliver us to Trump the sequel,” Mr. Yang, who left the Democratic Party in 2021, said in Manchester. “Dean Phillips saw this, and said: ‘You know what? I am going to do something about it.’”

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