Democrat who ran against Biden says president's decision to seek re-election 'sealed' win for Trump
Rep. Dean Phillips suggested the 2024 election was "sealed" the day President Biden announced his re-election bid, pointing to his party's failure to let voters select their candidate.
Democrats lost the 2024 election the day President Biden announced he was running for re-election, Biden primary challenger Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., told Fox News Thursday.
"This entire election, in my estimation, was sealed the day that Joe Biden announced he was running for re-election. We should have had a competition. It makes everything better – better value products, better political candidates," Phillips said on "Fox & Friends."
"It's hard to set up a presidential campaign in a matter of weeks, as I tried to do, and certainly Kamala Harris tried to do. That's when we went wrong, and then we went wrong again by not having a competitive open primary that the President of the United States would have promoted and not suppressed… in the future, that's what I'm going to be fighting for."
Vice President Kamala Harris conceded the 2024 election to President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday after receiving 226 electoral votes to Trump's 295, with vote counts still outstanding in the swing states of Arizona and Nevada.
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The election cycle had been tumultuous for Democrats after President Biden's debate performance against Trump in late June prompted calls from within the party for Biden to pass the torch to another candidate, setting Harris up for a truncated run against the Republican nominee.
Her nomination came despite many calling for an open primary to select Trump's Democratic challenger instead of giving the nod to Harris without a vote.
Democrats are now asking what they could have done differently to defeat the GOP. Phillips said there are lessons to be learned from the outcome.
"Confrontation never works as well in politics as invitation, and I don't blame people for being frustrated" he said, touching on former President Obama pressuring Black voters to support Harris and Trump pressuring Jewish voters to support him.
"A lot of my colleagues are wondering what the heck happened. I get it. I've been around this country. I've been listening to people for years, share with me their concerns and their challenges, and I don't know why Democrats have not learned the lesson of what really matters. We've got to listen."
He continued, crediting Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., for his searing take following Trump's victory, "We have lost touch with the core of America, and that's showing through in a lot of our elections right now. The next candidates that recognize that, that are willing to listen, ingratiate themselves with everyday people and are authentic, they're going to win, and it doesn't matter their politics as much as it matters about their authenticity. I think that's another lesson learned."
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