(Julianna Frieman, Headline USA) Outgoing Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., slammed his own party in an interview published Saturday for tuning out the voice of voters and suffering a crushing defeat by President-elect Donald Trump.
Phillips, who challenged President Joe Biden in the 2024 Democrat primary, told POLITICO he found it “awfully unsettling” to be right about the 82-year-old Democrat’s inability to serve a second term.
Dem Rep. Dean Phillips is leaving Congress – and he has some parting words for his “rudderless” party. https://t.co/8RRboZKHUX
— POLITICO (@politico) December 28, 2024
“The fact was his approval numbers were historically low. The fact was his physical decline was real. And the only vindication I cared about was my own, and I’m saddened that I’m vindicated,” the congressman said. “I would have much rather traded that vindication for success, and that’s why I’m so utterly disappointed in many of my colleagues and our party”
Phillips urged Democrats to undergo a “comprehensive turnaround” come the midterm elections in 2026 and the next presidential race in 2028. He added that no clear party leader has emerged since Biden’s withdrawal in July and America’s rejection of Vice President Kamala Harris.
“What do we have to do? Listen, it’s not that hard. This is not rocket science,” Phillips told the outlet. “This is representation. It starts with listening, and it means getting out to places and spaces and people and communities that we’ve all but turned our back on.”
The former Democrat presidential candidate highlighted what he called the irony of working-class voters, previously a guaranteed bloc of blue voters, flocking to the Republican Party.
“I think it’s ironic that the Republican Party is now representing America’s working class. It’s astounding, and that was ceded to them by people that have prioritized things like tenure over talent, identity politics over pragmatic problem solving. It’s as simple as that, but it takes leadership,” he said.
Dean Phillips, who challenged Biden in the Democratic primary, called his party “completely delusional” in January.pic.twitter.com/VHz7AEYbFQ
— Julianna Frieman (@JuliannaFrieman) July 2, 2024
Phillips called members of the Democrat Party “completely delusional” in January as they hitched their wagons to Biden. In February, Phillips took to Fox News and called for Biden to step aside.
“We wouldn’t be having these conversations if he was not running for president again,” he told primetime host Jesse Watters at the time.
Rep. Dean Phillips, who ran for president in the Democratic primary, called for Biden to step down in February.
“We wouldn’t be having these conversations if he was not running for president again.”
— Julianna Frieman (@JuliannaFrieman) July 2, 2024
Phillips ended his own presidential primary bid in March after it became clear Biden had majority support from the Democrats.
Julianna Frieman is a freelance writer published by the Daily Caller, Headline USA, The Federalist, and The American Spectator. Follow her on Twitter at @JuliannaFrieman.
