Descendant of Russian immigrants decides to challenge Joe Biden in the election
Photo: ru.wikipedia.org
On the eve of the US presidential election in 2024, the current leader of the country, Joe Biden, has a competitor. His fellow party member Dean Phillips decided to challenge the current head of the White House. Who is he – the heir to the liquor business and the grandson of a famous American columnist from a family of Russian Jewish immigrants?
Until recently, Dean Phillips was known as a moderate moderate, one of dozens of people who helped Democrats take control of the House of Representatives in 2018. The member of the lower house of Congress from Minnesota served as president and CEO of his family's spirits business, Phillips Distilling Company. He is also the former co-owner of American ice cream brand Talenti gelato and co-owner of Penny's Coffee.
Dean Phillips is the grandson of Pauline Esther Phillips (aka Abigail Van Burren), the famous author of the once popular “Dear Abby” newspaper column. Pauline was born into a family of Russian Jewish immigrants. Dean's father, Artie Pfeffer, was killed in action in Vietnam when the future congressman was only 6 months old.
By the way, Jewish roots are evident in Dean Phillips' life even now. He was once honored by the Minnesota publication American Jewish World for his work on the board of Temple Israel in Minneapolis.
Over the past year, the Democratic politician has become the most prominent member of his party to challenge Biden. not seek re-election. He warned that the party needed a new generation of leaders to take the lead.
This position cost him support within the Democratic wing. In early October, Phillips announced that he would step down as co-chairman of the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee. This came after he was called “on the carpet” during a closed-door meeting to express his displeasure with his stance on Biden's re-election.
After leaving the committee, Phillips noted that he felt “liberated” and could now speak more freely. He went on to argue that while he believes Biden is a great president, polls show voters are concerned about his age and that his job approval ratings are dangerously low.
“I don't know how anyone can ignore what what we see, what we feel and what we read. And it all points to the same thing. If the Democrats don't listen now, I'm afraid it will result in another Trump administration,” he said in an interview with an American TV channel.
His nomination was suspiciously successful. In a September CNN poll, two-thirds of Democrats said they wanted to see a Democratic nominee other than Biden. Notably, about half of Democrats cited Biden's age as the biggest challenge in his 2024 campaign.
Incidentally, Dean Phillips was preparing the ground for his future nomination this summer. After Biden announced he would seek re-election in April, Phillips urged other Democratic leaders to challenge the incumbent and suggested he might run himself. As early as July, Phillips met with donors in New York to discuss a possible bid.
Rumors about the presidential ambitions of the “moderately educated Democrats” began to grow only after that. They began to view him with particular suspicion after approaching the New Hampshire leader. This week (before Dean Phillips officially announced his candidacy for President), the Dean Phillips for President bus was spotted driving through Ohio, presumably on its way to the Granite State.
In fact, no one had any idea. In Congress, Phillips consistently voted with the president and did not criticize his policies, as the White House said. it's a thing of the past. This election is about the future. I will not sit, I will not remain silent in the face of the numbers that so clearly indicate that we will face an emergency next November.”
Biden allies have called talk of Phillips in charge a distraction that will only highlight the president's weaknesses. Phillips tried to contact Biden in August, but the president was unavailable, according to a senior US source. Phillips then spoke with White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients, who “listened” to him but responded with conviction: “The president is a man who can win in 2024 and get the job done.”
Phillips explained to CNN, that he was trying to talk to Biden “as a courtesy to let him know my intentions.” But somehow it all ended with a “short but friendly” conversation with Zients.
Phillips' campaign strategy is said to be already causing headaches for the Democratic Party. The fact is that the potential US president has focused his campaign specifically on New Hampshire. Phillips has already booked $50,000 worth of advertising time in the state, according to ad tracking firm AdImpact. As they say, he can afford it. But there's another tricky twist.
Biden will not appear on the primary ballot in the Granite State. The decision came after the Democratic National Committee announced that the state “does not fit into the party's presidential nominating calendar.”
Former Republican strategist Steve Schmidt is advising the Democratic nominee, sources close to Phillips' campaign said. Schmidt, who left the Republican Party in 2018, previously worked on the campaigns of former President George W. Bush and Arizona Sen. John McCain.
On his “Alert with Steve Schmidt” podcast in September, the strategist endorsed Phillips, saying, “If you went to New Hampshire and said, 'I'm Dean Phillips, I'm running for president and I want to be the Democratic nominee,' a lot of people in Washington would be screaming and cheered. and other parts of the country.
But the road to the presidency is unlikely to be easy for Phillips. Although his personal fortune is in the tens of millions, he will likely have a hard time finding major Democratic donors who aren't already backing Biden. Phillips, by the way, was one of the first to admit that he lacked recognition, as did some other party candidates.
And generally, when New Hampshire lost primary status, South Carolina took its place. Palm State Democratic Chairwoman Crystal Spain said, “South Carolina is an important testing ground for presidential candidates, and Dean Phillips has so far failed. South Carolina is thrilled to once again endorse President Biden as our nominee.”
Some of Phillips' colleagues consider the project so ambitious that they see it as nothing more than vanity. A number of leading Democrats have even privately linked it to a midlife crisis. Although he is already 54 years old and will be 55 at the time of the election… But there are those who believe that Phillips was simply so disappointed with Biden that he took such a “quixotic” step. Anyone can guess who is right.
Many believe his presidential campaign “Dean 24, Inc.” will be very similar to his run for Congress in 2018. The politician then eschewed most of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's advice, relying instead on his deep marketing knowledge. In 1960, he drove an International Harvester milk truck to the towns and cities of his suburban House District of Minneapolis for an election that was full of retail. He has pushed for less spending on television than on digital advertising, while largely refusing to express negative views about his Republican opponent.
His approach has angered many Democrats in Washington. But he won anyway, winning a seat that Democrats hadn't picked up in decades. A bus driving through New Hampshire this week with an “All Are Invited” sign brought back those memories. And who knows how that could turn the race around.
His views are unlikely to differ from Biden's. It is important to understand that his main task now is to try to bring a new generation of Democrats to the American political elite (and specifically the Democratic Party). No longer. However, perhaps no one has posed such a direct and fearless challenge to the current leader of the country so openly.