One-Time Biden Challenger Dean Phillips Weighs In on Election Result

Democratic Representative Dean Phillips has issued a postmortem of his party following its defeat in the 2024 election.

While pollsters had long forecast a close race between Vice President Kamala Harris and her Republican rival, Donald Trump , the latter emerged as the clear victor. The two competed to replace incumbent President Joe Biden , whom Phillips ran against in the 2024 Democratic presidential primaries.

Appearing on Fox and Friends on Thursday morning, the Minnesota congressman said, "This entire election, in my estimation, was sealed the day Joe Biden announced he was running for reelection."

"We should have had a competition," Phillips said. "It makes everything better. Better value products, better political candidates."

"It's hard to set up a presidential campaign in a matter of weeks, as I tried to do," Phillips added, referencing his challenge to Biden's incumbency."

"That's when we went wrong," he said. "And we went wrong again by not having a competitive open primary that the president of the United States would have promoted, not suppressed."