Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Mn, blasted President Biden as “unelectable and weak” during a campaign event in New Hampshire, where Biden is set to skip the first Democratic presidential primary this week.
Phillips is challenging Biden in the Democratic primary, and New Hampshire represents his top opportunity. Biden chose to skip the state’s primary entirely after New Hampshire declined to give up its first primary slot to South Carolina.
While Biden supporters are organizing a write-in campaign to prevent Phillips from securing a win, he still says he hopes to secure upward of 20% of the vote.
“Sadly it’s going to demonstrate that our incumbent president is unelectable and weak and I think it’s going to show this country that there’s a candidate here who can actually do here what has been promised for generations,” Phillips told reporters at a campaign event.
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“If you listen to the voters, people feel he’s at a stage of life that makes it incompatible to leading the free world. And the same is true of Donald Trump,” he added.
Former presidential candidate Andrew Yang endorsed Phillips in New Hampshire last week, saying Biden’s aged candidacy was stifling the Democratic Party.
“If you want to run for president, your time is right now. In this time of need, only one person decided to place his country above his professional aspirations,” Yang said. “That is the man I am proud to endorse tonight as the next President of the United States: Dean Phillips.”
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While Yang was complimentary of Biden, he ultimately said that the party will struggle to “reinvent grandpa.”
“He is a substantial, accomplished president. I campaigned for him in 2020. I endorsed him,” Yang said of Biden. “He’s a good man, a true public servant and a great American. He was the right candidate four years ago. He is not the right candidate for 2024.”
Polls have repeatedly shown in recent months that overwhelming majorities of Americans, and even Democrats, believe Biden is too old to lead effectively in a second term.
Reuters contributed to this report.
