For months, Dean Phillips called for a Democratic primary challenge to President Joe Biden, without any public interest from governors and lawmakers.

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and other potential alternatives.

The 54-year-old congressman from Minnesota eventually entered the race himself

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Friday at an event outside the New Hampshire Statehouse, it was said: It is time for the torch to be passed to a new generation of American leaders.

Phillips is very unlikely to beat Biden. Still, his election poses a symbolic challenge to national Democrats who are trying to project the idea that there is no reason to doubt the president’s electability, even as many Americans wonder whether the 80-year-old Biden should serve another term .

He said in his speech that he would try to restore the economy and warned about high prices and the chaos at our border, all issues that are potential vulnerabilities for Biden as he heads toward a likely rematch against the former president.

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Trump. And Phillips is trying to appeal to New Hampshire Democrats who are angry at Biden for diluting their state’s influence in the 2024 Democratic primaries, noting that the state has historically been the first to vet presidential candidates like me.”

Biden has long cast himself as uniquely qualified to beat Trump again after his 2020 victory, and top Democrats have lined up behind him while also positioning themselves for a future primary.

His re-election campaign released a statement Friday saying it was difficult to mobilize the winning coalition that President Biden can uniquely bring together to defeat Trump.

Although Biden will not officially participate in the New Hampshire primary and will rely on a write-in campaign, the president plans to head to Phillips’ home state next week for an official event and fundraiser.

Phillips has already missed the deadline to participate in the Nevada primaries and is little known nationally. His campaign’s account on X, formerly known as Twitter, was briefly suspended on Friday before the launch. And shortly before Phillips spoke, the leader of his home state signed a fundraising pitch sent by the Biden campaign.

You know, I have to say this about Minnesota: It’s a great state, full of great people. And sometimes they do crazy things,” wrote Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, who added: “And sometimes they make political sideshows for themselves.

But New Hampshire’s top challenges have a history of hurting sitting presidents.

In 1968, another Democratic senator from Minnesota, Eugene McCarthy, built his campaign against the Vietnam War and finished second in the New Hampshire primary, helping the president

Lyndon

Johnson to continue for a second term. Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy’s challenge to the president

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Carter and Pat Buchanan’s battles against President George HW Bush both failed, but Carter and Bush ultimately lost their re-election bids.

The state’s influence over Democrats was also limited this year by changes ordered by the Democratic National Committee at Biden’s behest.

According to a new Democratic calendar, South Carolina will start its presidential elections on February 3 and Nevada will start three days later. New Hampshire has refused to comply, citing state laws that say the primaries must take place first, and is planning a primary before South Carolina. The DNC, in turn, could strip the status of its nominating delegates.

Former New Hampshire House Speaker Steve Shurtleff believes Phillips could appeal to some Democrats and independents who may choose to vote in the primaries.

I’m disappointed that he and the DNC tried to steal our primaries, Shurtleff said. It’s not that I want to see Joe lose. It’s that I want to see our primary win.

But Terry Shumaker, a former DNC member from New Hampshire and longtime Biden supporter, said he expects the president will easily consider the state as a write-in option. Shumaker remembers going door to door for McCarthy in 1968, but doesn’t see Phillips gaining similar traction.

I don’t know what his message is, he said. To do well in the New Hampshire primary, you need to have a message.

There are no Democratic primary debates scheduled. The only other Democrat running in the 2024 primaries is self-help author Marianne Williamson.

Phillips is heir to the Phillips Distilling Co. from his stepfather.

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Rich. He was once president of that company, but also ran the ice cream maker Talenti. His grandmother was the late Pauline Phillips, better known as the advice columnist Dear Abby.

Driving a gelato truck was the centerpiece of his first House campaign in 2018, when Phillips unseated fifth-term Republican Erik Paulsen. While his district in largely affluent Minneapolis has become more Democratic-leaning, Phillips has emphasized that he is a moderate and focused on his suburban voters.

An AP-NORC poll published in August found that the top words associated with Biden were old and confused.” Nearly 70% of Democrats and 77% of American adults said they thought Biden was too old to be effective for another four years. A survey found that respondents most often described Trump as corrupt and dishonest.”

Leslie Blanding, a retired teacher and Democrat from Bow,

NH,New Hampshire,

said she did not know Phillips but was deeply conflicted about whether Biden should face a primary challenger.

I think Biden is too old. I think he should have prepared someone to succeed him from the beginning, and he didn’t, the 75-year-old Blanding said. But I think he seems to be the only one who has a good chance of beating Trump or anyone else.