Brazile pans Dean Phillips run against Biden: ‘Have fun out there’

Former Democratic National Committee Chair Donna Brazile panned Rep. Dean Phillips’s (D-Minn.) 2024 challenge to President Biden and underscored her confidence that Democrats would rally behind Biden’s reelection campaign.

Brazile said she wasn’t sure what Phillips’s “game plan” was, noting the uphill challenge that Phillips would have in order to launch any real challenge to unseat the incumbent president. 

“This is 2023, and the last time I looked at the calendar, there are at least six states that you have to be on the ballot by the end of next month, 22 states before the end of the year. The race for delegates is not a popularity contest. It is a race where you have to actually go out and identify, recruit people,” she said on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday, where she serves as a panelist.

“So good luck, Mr. Phillips. Have fun out there. But, guess what? I will not be seeing him in Chicago unless he’s an automatic superdelegate,” she said, referring to the city hosting the Democratic National Convention.

She noted Biden’s lengthy list of legislative achievements and said she was confident those accomplishments and his personal characteristics would drive Democrats to vote for him.

“I don’t know what the endgame is for Mr. Phillips, but I can tell you this much. Democrats are going to coalesce, stand behind and support Joe Biden and [Vice President Harris],” Brazile said. 

“And the reason why is simple: It’s because not only has he achieved a lot in office, people know Joe Biden. They know he’s wise. They know that he is capable and competent. And they’re not going to run from Biden,” she said. 

Brazile’s comments come just days after Phillips launched a presidential primary challenge against Biden in 2024. Phillips is not a very well-known member of Congress, but he has been critical of Biden’s age and has called for other Democrats to get in the race to challenge him.

Biden had two other primary challengers — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Marianne Williamson — but Kennedy recently abandoned his run for the Democratic party’s nomination and is now running as an independent.