Democrat Congressman Rips His Own Party, Compares Primary Tactics To Iranian Government

U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN) — who is challenging President Biden in the 2024 Democratic presidential primary — compared his own party to the Iranian regime after multiple states opted to cancel their primary races.

Phillips, who entered the race rather late after urging Democrat governors to step forward for months, has found his way onto the ballot in a number of states. He has primarily focused on New Hampshire, where President Biden will not be on the ballot in order to start the primary cycle with South Carolina instead.

While Phillips has stated that he intends to run in every state possible, at least four states have already canceled their respective primary processes in order to make Biden the only eligible candidate. The list includes Florida, Texas, Massachusetts and Tennessee, while party leaders in a number of additional states have hinted at similar actions.

“Still waiting for someone to explain how this is different than Iran’s tactics to guarantee the outcome of elections,” Phillips wrote in an X post responding to the moves. “Not a single state GOP party has moved to make Trump the only candidate on the ballot. Utter hypocrisy,”

Still waiting for someone to explain how this is different than Iran’s tactics to guarantee the outcome of elections.

Not a single state GOP party has moved to make Trump the only candidate on the ballot.

Utter hypocrisy. https://t.co/SS9u1nlZl7

— Dean Phillips (@deanbphillips) January 5, 2024

One recent poll found that support for Phillips has swelled to 24 percent in New Hampshire. The poll, which was conducted by American Research Group, found that 58 percent of voters remain behind President Biden while Marianne Williamson polled at five percent.

An additional 14 percent remain undecided, down from 23 percent in December.

“Dean Phillips went from 0 to 21% in NH in two months. It’s almost like people want a competitive primary against Biden – and realize that we need a stronger candidate against Trump,” said Andrew Yang, who ran for president as a Democrat in 2020. “Imagine Trump against a fresh new 54 year old.”

Phillips — who will be leaving congress at the end of his term — has repeatedly slammed the leaders of his own party over the way the primary has been conducted. “A hundred and some people on their executive committee said, we don’t need a primary, Joe Biden will be the nominee and therefore we will hand 250 delegates to Joe Biden,” the Democrat said during a recent radio interview after Florida opted to skip the state’s primary.

“North Carolina the next week said, you know what, despite the fact that I qualified by simply being a presidential candidate who is in the national news, that’s their only predicate. They decided they don’t need a primary either, that Joe Biden has won, and they will hand their delegates to him,” he continued. “And these are, this is happening right in front of our faces. And the president has not said a word about it. So I’m concerned that part of what you’re seeing right now is this duopoly working to actually prevent competition, prevent debate, and prevent voters from even opining.”

New Hampshire’s Democratic primary is currently slated for January 24.