Democrat Dean Phillips’ Campaign Officially Schedules Filing for the New Hampshire Primary

Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips’ nascent presidential campaign officially scheduled his filing for New Hampshire’s Democratic primary on Thursday, according to a spokesperson for the New Hampshire secretary of state, the latest step towards his run against incumbent President Joe Biden.

The spokesperson said a representative for Phillips’ campaign came to the secretary of state’s office on Thursday to schedule his filing for around 10 a.m. on Friday morning, the deadline for a candidate to get on New Hampshire’s primary ballot.

Phillips is then expected to follow up his filing with an event in Concord, New Hampshire. A flyer from Phillips for President touting a “New Hampshire Filing Rally” has been floating around New Hampshire Democratic circles. The flyer says a rally will happen at the New Hampshire state house in Concord on Friday morning.

The congressman's presidential bid is undoubtedly a longshot bid, given Phillips’ lack of a national profile, the timing of his decision to get into the race, and the fact he is challenging a sitting president who has a massive campaign war chest and the entire party infrastructure behind him.

The congressman has been teasing a campaign for months. Citing Biden’s age – the president is the oldest man to ever hold the office – Phillips initially began urging other Democrats to challenge the President. When no one heeded his call, the 54-year-old Phillips decided to put himself forward as a candidate.

Earlier in the week, a bus touting the congressman’s campaign was seen driving across Ohio. On Thursday, a New Hampshire Democrat provided The Messenger with a video of the bus in New Hampshire.

By focusing on New Hampshire, Phillips is looking to take advantage of the fact that Democrats have recently changed their primary calendar, demoting New Hampshire and angering Democrats in the state. Officials in New Hampshire have declined to comply with the move and the Democratic National Committee has come down on both the state and those Democrats, like Phillips, who participate in the primary. Biden’s campaign announced this week that the president would not be on the ballot to comply with the rules.

Democrats have already planned a write-in candidacy for the president and polls have shown he holds a substantial lead even if he isn’t on the ballot.

Troy Price, the former executive director of the New Hampshire Democratic Party, told The Messenger that even though some New Hampshire Democrats are angry at Biden for the calendar change, few are ready to back someone like Phillips because of it.

“Are folks unhappy with the president for pushing the new calendar? Yes. Are they happy with the DNC? Sure. But are they so unhappy that they are going to go with someone they have never heard of and just got in three months before the primary? No,” said Price. “He’s got a really tough road to hoe.”