Dean Phillips readies for Biden challenge

by Caroline Vakil and Elizabeth Crisp - 10/26/23 3:13 PM ET

Campaign Report

The Big Story

Dean Phillips readies for Biden challenge

Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) is expected to announce his presidential campaign Friday – a move that will stoke both anger and anxiety among members of his party.

Phillips will file his candidacy for president in New Hampshire Friday, the New Hampshire Secretary of State confirmed to The Hill.

CBS News previously reported Phillips’s intentions to file Friday, setting up the Minnesota representative to join progressive Marianne Williamson and Young Turks’ founder Cenk Uygur in taking on President Biden for the nomination.

Though Phillips isn’t expected to draw a competitive challenge to Biden, it would create another unneeded distraction for the president, who’s already grappling with low approval ratings and voter concerns over his age.

Signs are increasingly pointing to Trump becoming the 2024 GOP nominee, and polling shows matchups between him and Biden as neck and neck – meaning that long-shot bids and third-party challengers could act as disruptors in the race.

Phillips’s anticipated announcement would come just days after the Biden campaign notified the New Hampshire Democratic Party that Biden wouldn’t be filing for the Democratic primary in the state but was expected to have his name on the general election ballot there.

That letter came against the backdrop of a reshuffled Democratic National Committee (DNC) primary calendar, which placed South Carolina first on its primary calendar, followed next by New Hampshire and Nevada together. The decision to have New Hampshire holding its primary second alongside Nevada angered Democrats in the Granite State.

Still, Democrats expect Biden to win the primary, though the move raises questions about how the Biden campaign’s treatment of New Hampshire could impact him in the general election.

“The reality is that Joe Biden will win the NH FITN Primary in January, win renomination in Chicago and will be re-elected next November. NH voters know and trust Joe Biden that’s why he is leading Trump in NH by double digits,” state Democratic Party Chair Raymond Buckley posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

Welcome to The Hill’s Campaign Report, we’re Caroline Vakil and Liz Crisp. Each week we track the key stories you need to know to stay ahead of the 2024 election and who will set the agenda in Washington.

Did someone forward you this newsletter? Subscribe here.

Essential Reads

Key election stories and other recent campaign coverage:

Dean Phillips to file presidential bid in New Hampshire Friday

Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) will file his candidacy for president in New Hampshire on Friday, the New Hampshire secretary of state’s office said. A spokesperson for the office confirmed to The Hill that Phillips, a three-term House Democrat who has been considering a possible presidential run for months, will file at 10 a.m. Friday, which is the last day that candidates will be able to file to get on the ballot. CBS …

Full Story

DeSantis’s office says it is sending drones, weapons, ammunition to Israel

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s (R) office says it is sending drones, weapons and ammunition to Israel to support its war against Hamas, a move that would bolster the governor’s pro-Israel stance in the battle for the GOP presidential nomination. Jeremy Redfern, a spokesperson for DeSantis’s office, said that the Israeli Consul General in Miami requested Florida send drones, body armor and helmets to Israel for first …

Full Story

Judge rules Georgia voting maps are discriminatory, must be redrawn

A federal judge struck down Georgia’s Republican-drawn congressional and state legislative maps Thursday, ruling they violated the Voting Rights Act by diluting the power of Black voters. U.S. District Judge Steve Jones’s ruling gives the state Legislature until Dec. 8 to draw new lines before the court will step in to order its own remedial map. Although Georgia could appeal, the decision paves the way to boost Black voting …

Full Story

The Countdown

Upcoming news themes and events we’re watching:

12 days until Kentucky and Mississippi’s gubernatorial general elections
81 days until the Iowa presidential caucuses
376 days until the 2024 general election

On Our Watch

‘MAGA Mike’ a campaign gift for Dems?

No Democrats voted for Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and few would agree with his ultra conservative positions. But many seem to be finding a silver lining in his election.

Johnson, who was rarely in the spotlight and faced mostly nominal campaign rivals in his deeply conservative Louisiana district, has long advocated for abortion restrictions, anti-LGBTQ positions and explicitly Christian-specific causes.

He also played a key role in defending then-President Trump and pushed conspiracies that the 2020 election was stolen. He voted against certifying President Biden’s win even after Trump supporters violently stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

While those efforts may be positives on the far-right, Democrats see Johnson’s background as ripe for helping them sway swing voters as they aim to take control of the House and hold onto the Senate and White House in 2024.

All 18 Republicans representing districts that Biden won in 2020 ultimately voted for Johnson, and after Rep. Michael Lawler (R-N.Y.) voted for Johnson, a member on the chamber’s Democratic side shouted “bye-bye!”

Johnson has been dubbed “MAGA Mike” by fellow Republicans. Democrats are also embracing the moniker.

“MAGA Mike Johnson’s ascension to the speakership cements the extreme MAGA takeover of the House Republican Conference,” Biden campaign spokesperson Ammar Moussa said in a statement. “The American people have rejected the extreme MAGA ideology at the ballot box because they understand what’s at stake. And so to every MAGA Republican who supported this choice: We’ll see you in November.”

The Democratic National Committee said, “Republicans nationwide will have to answer for his extreme MAGA track record in 2024;” while the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee described the House Speaker as “Jim Jordan in a sports coat.”

In Other News

Branch out with a different read from The Hill:

Khanna, Ramaswamy set to debate in New Hampshire

Progressive Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Republican presidential contender Vivek Ramaswamy are slated to debate in New Hampshire, bringing together two opposing sides of the political spectrum in the early primary state. Khanna and Ramaswamy will square off Nov. 1 at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, the venue announced in a Thursday release. The stop is a familiar stomping …

Full Story

NC Republicans pass new maps that could flip multiple House seats

North Carolina Republicans have approved new maps that could flip multiple House seats in their favor, drawing immediate ire from state Democrats. The GOP-led state General Assembly passed maps Wednesday that alter the lines for North Carolina’s 14 U.S. House seats, changes that could give Republicans a leg up in defending their House majority in 2024. “North Carolina Republicans have just enacted one of the most gerrymandered …

Full Story

Around the Nation

Local and state headlines regarding campaigns and elections:

Democrats keep hammering Gov. Tate Reeves for refusing Medicaid expansion (Mississippi Today)
Michigan marijuana shops make money off Ohio consumers. Issue 2 could change that (The Columbus Dispatch)

What We’re Reading

Election news we’ve flagged from other outlets:

G.O.P. Candidates Call for Campus Crackdowns Against Anti-Israel Speech (The New York Times)
Biden’s tough choice on Mike Johnson: Friend or foe? (Axios)

Elsewhere Today

Key stories on The Hill right now:

Maine shooting death count rises to 18; Suspect at large: Live coverage

At least 18 people were killed and 13 injured in Lewiston, Maine, Wednesday night in a mass shooting incident at two locations, and the suspect remains at large. Law enforcement officials sent an alert of an active-shooter situation at Schemengees Bar & Grille, a restaurant, and at Sparetime Recreation, a bowling alley about 4 miles … Read more

Greene moves to force vote on Tlaib censure for ‘antisemitic activity’

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) moved to force a vote on censuring Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) on Thursday, accusing the Michigan Democrat of “antisemitic activity” and “sympathizing with terrorist organizations.” Greene called the measure to the floor as a privileged resolution Thursday morning, which forces the chamber to take action … Read more