Mr. Phillips, President Biden’s most significant Democratic rival, had argued that voters wanted a younger alternative to the president. But his candidacy stalled soon after he entered the race.
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Representative Dean Phillips talking to a voter in Plymouth, Minn., on Tuesday.
Representative Dean Phillips of Minnesota suspended his long-shot campaign for the Democratic nomination on Wednesday and endorsed President Biden.
“To all who supported my effort, thank you. We will continue the important work to ensure a more responsive, democratic, and generationally diverse political system,” he wrote in a post on X. “But today, in light of the stark reality we face, I ask you join me in mobilizing, energizing, and doing everything you can to help keep a man of decency and integrity in the White House. That’s Joe Biden.”
Mr. Phillips, Mr. Biden’s most significant Democratic rival, had entered the race in October — in the absence of other serious primary challengers — after publicly arguing for months that the president was a weak candidate. Spending millions of his own money on his campaign, Mr. Phillips, one of the wealthiest members of Congress, pointed to Mr. Biden’s age and low approval numbers as signs that voters wanted a younger, new generation of leaders.
But while voters have indeed repeatedly indicated that they do not want a rematch between Mr. Biden and Donald J. Trump, they have also indicated a lack of interest in Mr. Phillips as a Democratic alternative.
In the final days of his campaign, the Minnesota congressman could barely disguise how that had hurt his feelings. “Congratulations to Joe Biden, Uncommitted, Marianne Williamson, and Nikki Haley for demonstrating more appeal to Democratic Party loyalists than me,” he wrote on social media as he finished in last place in state after state on the night of Super Tuesday.
And earlier in the day, as he cast his ballot at a polling place in Plymouth, Minn., Mr. Phillips sounded skeptical of Mr. Biden’s prospects in November, saying the “sad truth” was that the president wasn’t well positioned to win re-election.
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Source: nytimes.com
