Outside chance Dean Phillips, a Democratic candidate for president, declared his intention to stay in the race despite announcing the layoff of a large number of campaign employees.
It was quite difficult for me to collect enough money to run the campaign the way I wanted it to. The legislator from Minnesota made the difficult announcement in a video posted to X (previously Twitter) on Friday that he had to lay off a large portion of his crew.
Despite widespread speculation that Phillips would shortly withdraw his presidential bid in light of the announcement, Phillips remained resolute in his refusal to concede defeat. On Saturday, a campaign spokesman reaffirmed Phillips’ intention to remain in the race all the way to the August Democratic National Convention.
A representative for Phillips confirmed the cancellation of all future trips, including an appearance in Michigan this weekend, which was slated to precede the presidential primary on February 27. She said that he is likely to remain in the nation’s capital instead.
He launched in late October, but the Minnesota lawmaker hasn’t been able to get any support or votes since then. A 44-point margin separated him from President Joe Biden’s write-in candidate in New Hampshire last month. Biden received 96% of the vote in South Carolina, while Phillips got less than 2%. This was an especially devastating loss for Phillips. Even self-help author Marianne Williamson, who is no longer running, finished ahead of him.
Other scandals have dogged Phillips’ presidential campaign. Following public pressure from a donor, he removed the words “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” off his campaign website. Within 48 hours, Phillips retreated from his third-party bid, which he had floated on the No Labels ticket.
Phillips, on the other hand, has staked his campaign on the fact that Biden is older than Trump (77 years old) and claims that the 81-year-old president is therefore more susceptible to defeat.
X quoted Phillips as saying, “Sad and troubling, but not unusual for an 81 year-old man.” She went on to say that after the special counsel’s report characterised Biden as a “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory,” Phillips went on to talk about the “physical and communicative declines I’ve witnessed over the past few years.”
