Is he running? Rep. Dean Phillips steps down from Democrat leadership role

According to an Axios Sneak Peek on Sunday, Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN) resigned from his House leadership role. He was the co-chair of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee.

Why is this interesting? It is interesting because Phillips has been speaking out for some time now about the need for someone to come forward and challenge Joe Biden in 2024. He has been imploring other Democrats who might have a strong shot against Biden to step up and run. Whenever he was asked about his own personal ambition, he said he doesn’t count anything out but had no plans to run for president. He just wants to push Biden out. He’s looking for real alternatives for the Democrat presidential nomination.

He released a brief statement to Axios. “My convictions relative to the 2024 presidential race are incongruent with the majority of my caucus, and I felt it appropriate to step aside from elected leadership,” Phillips, the co-chair of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee, told Axios in a statement. He didn’t leave the caucus, the caucus left him, I guess. It sounds like he is feeling like the odd man out.

He hasn’t endorsed Biden for 2024, so that hasn’t changed. Phillips represents Minnesota’s suburban Third District. He is worried that Democrats are “sleepwalking” into a repeat of 2016 with another Trump victory. He said it is time for Biden to “pass the torch.” All that said, he said he will support Biden if he is the Democrat nominee.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries has not commented as of Sunday evening.

Phillips said in a text message to the Star Tribune that leaving the House Democratic leadership was his own decision.

“Leader Jeffries and our entire leadership team never even so much [as] implied I should step down,” Phillips said in one of several text messages to the Star Tribune. “But I know my conviction was beginning to cause discomfort in the caucus as evidenced by a colleague stating so at a caucus meeting this week. While political messaging and caucus messaging do not mix, I did not want to be a distraction to the latter.”

Phillips said in another text message that although he is leaving the leadership post, he is not leaving Congress or the Democratic caucus.

He is serving his third term in Congress. At age 54, he would be a youngster in the Democrat primary. He hasn’t completely taken himself out of a possible run. “The only door I’ve shut is serving on the caucus leadership team,” Phillips said in a text message Sunday afternoon.

So, what’s he up to, anyway? He wants Biden to get out of the primary race yet he’ll support him if he is he nominee. He has talked about his concerns about Biden’s advanced age and Biden’s abysmal poll numbers. Is he passionate enough to challenge The Big Guy? He hasn’t said. Is he just stirring the pot? Is he just trying to create buzz for himself in order to raise his national profile if he decides to run in 2028? Nothing is clear at this point.

That is why it is interesting to read the scoop that Phillips left his House leadership role in the Democrat caucus Sunday. Now we wait and see what he’s up to. It might just be that he’s been voted off the island in the Democrat caucus and feels like he can’t do the job he was voted to do in the caucus. If he has decided he will be the one to step forward against Biden, even it is just to encourage any other potential challenger, he has to move quickly. There are deadlines to meet and hoops to jump through.