‘Thought we would be coming to a funeral’: Dean Phillips gets his validation moment

CHICAGO — Failed Democratic presidential candidate Dean Phillips — who challenged President Joe Biden in this year’s primary to the guffaws and eye rolls of his party colleagues — is having a little moment at the Democratic National Convention.

Phillips, who based his ultra-longshot campaign on the basis that Biden was too old and frail to beat Donald Trump, and that Democrats must nominate someone else, failed to win one Democratic primary contest. He wasn’t offered a prime-time speaking slot.

But Biden withdrew last month, Kamala Harris is now the party’s presidential nominee and Phillips couldn’t be happier.

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“Are you just walking around here being like, ‘told you so,’ ‘told you so,’ ‘told you so’?” Raw Story asked the congressman as he was briskly walking around the convention hall on his way to a television interview.

“Yeah,” the Minnesota congressman said through a laugh. “That's not what I was seeking, but I've been the recipient of a lot of wonderful handshakes, high fives and hugs that I, frankly, wasn't even anticipating and I’m grateful.”’

Phillips — with a total of four — came in second to Biden in terms of those all-important delegates in this year’s Democratic primary, besting self-help author and political gadfly Marianne Williamson after Robert Kennedy Jr. ditched the Democratic Party last fall and ran as an independent.

U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips speaks to supporters during a presidential campaign rally on Jan. 20, 2024 in Nashua, New Hampshire. Phillips, a House Democrat for Minnesota, unsuccessfully challenging President Joe Biden in the Democratic primary race. Biden himself would later drop out and yield to Vice President Kamala Harris. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

Other Democrats still aren’t ready to verbalize their non-apology apologies to Phillips, a multimillionaire businessman who comes from a family of distillers.

But Phillips says he still feels the love.

“I'm getting a lot of wink-winks and nod-nods,” the 55-year-old Phillips said through a knowing smile. “And just a lot of kind gestures.”

After a less-than-lackluster primary showing against the sitting president and member of his own party, Phillips ended his campaign this March and endorsed Biden. But there was still lingering bad blood — until Biden flopped during his first and only debate against Trump, the former president and 2024 Republican presidential nominee.

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Like most Democrats, Phillips felt gutted and terrified after Biden’s poor debate performance. But Phillips’ fear turned to validation when many of his congressional colleagues joined his effort and successfully pressured Biden to drop out, which he did on July 21.

Phillips says he’s not spiking the proverbial football — though that doesn’t mean he’s not dancing in the end zone of this year’s Democratic National Convention.

“It wasn't about me, it was about the mission, and the mission's been validated,” Phillips said. “By the way, not just validated, I thought we would be coming to a funeral, and it turned out to be a birth.”

Thing is, Phillips says this isn’t news to him. That’s because in the quiet of the Capitol’s cloakrooms, he had colleagues — he didn’t name names — voice support to him throughout his longshot bid to upend his own political party, he said.

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“Yes, there were a number of colleagues who agreed with me during it, but we live in a political culture — work in a political culture — that doesn't reward independence and that kind of risky truth telling,” Phillips told Raw Story. “And I know that, and I was in a unique position to risk my job — and even lose it — and I think that too few are willing to undertake, and that's where we have problems.”

While Phillips is retiring from the U.S. House after this session of Congress ends in January, he’s not done with politics: He’s got opinions — including unflattering ones on his own party — and he’s sharing them to whoever will listen

If anything, this chapter in his political career makes him want to upend the nation’s two-party system, because he says it’s structured to help enrich Washington’s political class — whether monetarily or with the power so many politicians sell their souls for — at the expense of the very people they’ve pledged to serve.

“They're both private corporations, and I think the American public needs to better understand that they don't answer to shareholders, they answer to officers and they're appointed by political leaders. And I want to shine light on that, because we have perverse incentives,” Phillips said before heading off to do a TV hit. “I’ve gotta run.”