The story of Dean Phillips is one of the strangest of the 2024 electoral season. The Minnesota congressman left a comfortably blue House seat so that he could run a long-shot campaign against Joe Biden.
Phillips never gained any momentum, winning only single-digit percentage points in most races and often losing to Marianne Williamson, who had already dropped out of the race. The candidate talked to Jake Tapper about the experience.
The CNN host began by asking, "I mean, I don’t need to tell you, you burned a lot of bridges. You’re giving up a safe Democratic congressional seat, perhaps giving up a future in politics. I mean, would you do it again?"
"I would do it 1,000 times again," Phillips said. "If I inspire just a couple of people in our country to not be quiet and not stay in line when you feel compelled to represent something — and by the way, I do — I felt very disappointed in a lot of colleagues who had been saying, quietly, the same things that a lot of the country was saying publicly."
Tapper then pushed, "I’ve heard a lot of really nasty stuff about you from your Democratic colleagues. I mean, just like, ‘What is he thinking? Exercise in narcissism."
"If someone thinks this was a selfish endeavor," Phillips responded, "let me tell you, this is not the way to accomplish an ego trip. Just the opposite."