by For Rep. Dean Phillips, challenging President Biden in the Democratic primary has produced some humbling moments, like when failed to attract a single voter to a meet and greet this month.
“Sometimes if you build it, they don’t come,” he told reporters then.
But on Thursday they did attend campaign events for Phillips, who had to push his way through a crowd at the University of New Hampshire in Manchester.
Whether the meeting — a mix of disillusioned Democrats, undecided voters and the curious — was for him or the man to his right was another story.
He was flanked by Andrew Yang, whose unsuccessful run for president in 2020 brought him some star power as he developed a devoted following online known as the “Yang Gang.”
Yang formally endorsed Phillips later Thursday, five days before New Hampshire holds the nation’s first primary. He argued that Biden would be a liability if he faced former President Donald J. Trump again in the November election.
“Joe Biden, who I supported last time, in my opinion, is going to give us the sequel to Trump,” Yang, who left the Democratic Party in 2021, said in Manchester. “Dean Phillips saw this and said, ‘You know what? I’m going to do something about it.’”
Phillips, a Minnesota House Democrat who previously co-owned Talenti Gelato and introduced Belvedere vodka to the United States, has served millions of dollars from his personal fortune to his bet. Since he entered the race in October, he has modulated his message between moderate and progressive positions, and is trying to take advantage of Biden’s absence in New Hampshire.
Biden refused to have his name on the ballot in Tuesday’s primary after the state’s Democrats refused to postpone their contest to allow South Carolina, the state where Biden revived his 2020 bid, to vote first.
The president had pressured the Democratic National Committee to change its schedule, irritating party members in New Hampshire and letting his supporters write on his behalf.
“It’s repulsive,” Phillips said. “It’s repressive. “I think it is frankly unconstitutional and certainly undemocratic.”
Phillips, who turns 55 on Saturday, has criticized Biden’s low approval ratings and age (the president turned 81 in November) during his campaign.
David Simon, 67, a retired attorney from Santa Barbara, California, who traveled to New Hampshire to volunteer for Phillips and worked for his 2018 congressional campaign, said he was under no illusions.
“It’s just a bill, but someone had to intervene and raise these issues,” he said before the event in Manchester, the first of two in which Mr Yang participated.
After Mr. Phillips’ second event on Thursday, in Hanover, N.H., Xavier Laack, 19, a Dartmouth College student from Rochester, Minn., said he hoped Mr. Phillips could pull off a primary victory, although He recognized that the chances were slim. The event was the second Phillips campaign event Mr. Laack attended and he said the turnout was higher.
“Last time I thought, ‘I have to be realistic, he’s not going to win,’ but this time it’s more promising,” he said. “Although he’s probably still not going to win.”
Laack convinced three classmates to accompany him, insisting that they had to hear the congressman speak before Tuesday’s primary.
That was not his only motivation. Martin Skacel, also a 19-year-old Dartmouth student, sat with Mr. Laack in the front row and said before the event that Mr. Yang was the main draw of the night for him.
“I’m excited to hear it,” Mr. Skacel said. “That’s what got us out.”
Inside the small Manchester space, news teams from Germany and C-SPAN chronicled the proceedings, which, in addition to focusing on Phillips’ unlikely challenge, included a discussion of artificial intelligence.
Ashleigh Rourke, 46, a mother of three and a Democrat from Exeter, NH, said she had tried to rally her neighbors to attend a recent event for Mr. Phillips at a bookstore, but it was a struggle.
“It’s frustrating,” he said. “Our house isn’t even half a mile from the bookstore.”
Paige Leary, 55, a mother of four and an independent voter from Exeter, wore a badge that said “I’m interested in Dean.” She said Biden had no chance of winning re-election and that she was having flashbacks to 2016, when he voted for Hillary Clinton.
“She was expecting a coronation and, boy, did it surprise us, and not in a good way,” he said.
Phillips, a veteran moderate during his three terms in the House, surprised some when he embraced “Medicare for All,” the universal health care proposal championed by Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Most recently, he came under scrutiny when a heading on his campaign website that read “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” disappeared and was replaced with “Equity and Restorative Justice.” It came after a super PAC supporting him was expected to receive $1 million from William A. Ackman, the billionaire investor who in recent months has become an outspoken critic of DEI programs in higher education.
At the Hanover event, Phillips called himself “incorruptible” and accused his colleagues in Congress of spending their time appeasing donors and “asking for dollars.”
“It’s the most disgusting form of legalized corruption I can ever imagine,” he said.
After Mr. Phillips concluded his remarks in Hanover, students and supporters lined up for a chance to take a photo with him. The overhead speakers played comedian Bo Burnham’s song “Biden”, an electronic rhythm that plays under the catchy chorus: “What’s the best case scenario, Joe Biden? / Are they really going to make me vote for Joe Biden?”
Mr. Phillips’ message resonated with Gabriele Currier, 68, a retiree from Enfield, NH, who plans to vote for him.
“This man fills me with energy,” he said. “He has great ideas. He is eloquent and I love what he has to say. “He’s the guy.”
After the first meeting, a white campaign van covered with two Phillips signs was offered to take members of the media from a campaign office to the second event, a practice that is common in many larger, well-known campaigns. financed.
Three people boarded the vehicle outside Phillips’ headquarters in Manchester, where a handwritten note on the front door listed office hours and a campaign contact number. One wore a campaign button. A second was identified by the campaign as a newspaper correspondent in Spain.
Then there was Link Lauren, 25, who described himself in an interview Friday as a Dallas-based TikTok journalist and New York University graduate. His tiktok pagewho has over 400,000 followers, has videos of him interviewing Vivek Ramaswamy and Robert Kennedy Jr.
He said he had contacted Phillips’ campaign to let them know he was in New Hampshire and then received an invitation to ride in the media van.
“I think the reason they had the truck was because of me,” he said. “I didn’t rent a car.”
