Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) is meeting with donors in New York next week to discuss a possible long-shot primary challenge to President Joe Biden in 2024, Politico and NBC News reported Friday. Phillips, a moderate Democratic member of House leadership, is “highly unlikely to mount a primary challenge unless Biden’s health worsens or his political standing drops precipitously,” according to Politico’s Jonathan Martin. “If he were 15-20 years younger it would be a no-brainer to nominate him,” Phillips told Politico in an interview earlier this year. “But considering his age it’s absurd we’re not promoting competition but trying to extinguish it.”The odds of a serious primary challenge to a sitting president are low, but it wouldn’t be unprecedented. In 1968, Democratic Minnesota Sen. Eugene McCarthy, a critic of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Vietnam policies, nearly pulled off an upset by coming in second in the New Hampshire primary.

Source: Huffington Post July 28, 2023 20:14 UTC