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Rep. Dean Phillips recently announced he’s running against Biden in the Democratic primary.
He told Puck News he called Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Gov. J.B. Pritzker to push them to run, too.
“They didn’t answer,” Phillips said.
President Joe Biden’s newest Democratic challenger, Rep. Dean Phillips, personally called up the governors of Michigan and Illinois to jump into the race, but they ignored his calls, Puck News reported.
Phillips formally entered the presidential primary race after filing the requisite paperwork to the Federal Elections Commission on October 26, several months after he initially floated the idea in July.
The centrist Minnesotan previously stated he wanted a Democrat to challenge Biden in the presidential election as he said Democrats told him “they want, not a coronation, but a competition” for the incumbent. Though he’s praised Biden’s work in the White House, the 54-year-old representative has also expressed concern the 80-year-old chief executive may not be fit for another term in office due to his age.
According to Puck News’ latest on Phillips, however, he didn’t want to challenge Biden on his own. The publication spoke with Phillips, who said he reached out to Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker in an attempt to get them to run against Biden as well, but to no avail.
“They didn’t answer,” Phillips told Puck News.
In recent months, both Whitmer and Pritzker have become outspoken supporters of Biden’s reelection campaign.
For example, Biden tapped Whitmer in April to become the co-chair of his reelection campaign, leading her to shrug off Phillips in August after he called for a moderate governor from “the heartland” to primary the sitting president.
“I’m supporting the president because he’s got a record,” Whitmer said. “He’s gotten things done, and he cares about the average person.”
And while Pritzker has pressed Biden about the number of migrants crossing the US-Mexican border, he said in an October speech at a fundraiser that Biden’s age is an asset, not an issue.
“We need to stop dismissing concerns about the physical age of a candidate, especially when that concern comes from a young person,” Pritzker said, according to NBC News. “Instead, what people are afraid of is the age of the candidates’ ideas.”
While Biden’s national approval ratings have suffered in recent weeks in relation to the ongoing fighting in Israel and the Gaza Strip, Phillips faces a steep uphill climb in order to become a serious contender in the race.
Phillips holds a slight advantage over Biden in New Hampshire’s January primary as Biden’s name won’t formally appear on the state’s ballot. But even with this handicap, groups have already begun mobilizing to write in Biden on the ballot to thwart his challenger.