Rep. Dean Phillips Vows To March On After New Hampshire Democratic Primary
Huff PostU.S. Rep. Dean Phillips, who is challenging President Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination, tried to capitalize on Biden's absence on the ballot in New Hampshire. Phillips conceded that President Joe Biden had won New Hampshire’s Democratic presidential primary, though the sitting president wasn’t actually on the ballot. “Democratic voters don’t want to embarrass Joe Biden, they want to embarrass Donald Trump.” Phillips, an heir to a distillery fortune and former chairman of the gelato company Talenti, took full advantage of Biden’s absence from New Hampshire and the resentment it had instilled in local Democrats and Democrat-leaning independents. “And I mean, that my friend, and that’s the kind of leader I’m going to be I’m going to, I’m going to lead with invocation not confrontation.” Phillips’ even modest success in New Hampshire is almost certainly the product of the unusual circumstances that led Biden to suspend his formal participation in the primary. Katherine Harake, a candidate for New Hampshire’s Executive Council who came out to see Phillips in Hampton on Sunday, said she respected Phillips’ “bravery” for challenging Biden, and sees him as a better candidate to win against Trump.