President Joe Biden on Saturday swept the South Carolina Democratic main, profitable over 96% of the vote and dominating intraparty rivals Marianne Williamson and Rep. Dean Phillips.
However regardless of Biden’s enormous win, Phillips throughout a Sunday look on MSNBC’s “The Weekend” continued to insist that Biden isn’t your best option for Democrats and mentioned the president ought to have “handed the torch” to a brand new era of leaders.
“Individuals are actually struggling proper now. 60% residing paycheck to paycheck, 40% haven’t got $400 within the financial institution,” Phillips mentioned. “And right here we’ve the president in our social gathering saying GDP progress is up, job progress is nice. Individuals are pissed off and they’re fearful and so they’re seeing wars around the globe.”
“I respect Joe Biden. He ought to have handed the torch,” the Minnesota congressman continued. “This was not a mission for me. However somebody had to do that.”
Phillips then mentioned that regardless of Biden’s overwhelming victory in South Carolina, the president remained weak in opposition to former President Donald Trump, pointing to the slew of aggressive nationwide polls — and swing state polls — that present the previous president main in key battlegrounds that would determine the race for the White Home in November.
“Jimmy Carter was at 58% in January of 1980,” Phillips mentioned as he referenced the previous Democratic president’s standing earlier than he ultimately misplaced reelection later that yr. “Joe Biden’s at 38%. I am simply making an attempt to get up our social gathering.”
“We’re the Progressive Social gathering. We must be shifting ahead. I see the writing on the wall,” he added.
Phillips introduced his lengthy shot candidacy final October however has to date been unable to achieve traction within the contest regardless of Biden’s polling struggles over the past yr. The congressman has additionally taken warmth from fellow Democrats like Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, who in December derided his presidential marketing campaign as “a dream for Trump.”
On Saturday, Phillips received lower than 2% of the vote within the South Carolina Democratic main, coming in third place behind Williamson.
A lot of Phillips’ Home Democratic colleagues stay puzzled by his candidacy and have turn out to be brazenly vital of the first problem in opposition to Biden, who’s more likely to be locked in a extremely aggressive rematch in opposition to Trump this fall.
“I believe it is extra of a joke at this level,” Florida Rep. Maxwell Frost not too long ago informed Enterprise Insider’s Bryan Metzger of Phillips’ candidacy. “He does not have the sources to be tremendous aggressive.”
