Rep. Dean Phillips still undecided on 2024 presidential run

Democratic U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips said Sunday that he has not made a decision on whether he will undertake a long-shot presidential primary campaign against President Joe Biden.

The appearance by Phillips on the CBS program "Face the Nation" came after he confirmed late last month that he has been urged to consider running for president in the 2024 Democratic primary. The news was first broken by Politico.

The CBS interview represented the first public comments Phillips has made since news of a potential presidential run became public. Phillips has called for competition in the primary for months, and made a similar push during his Sunday television appearance.

At this point, Biden is being challenged in the Democratic primary by long-shot candidates author Marianne Williamson and anti-vaccine voice Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Phillips' is a lonely stand among elected congressional Democrats at this stage to be calling so urgently, and publicly, for other options to Biden.

"I think I'm well positioned to be president of the United States," Phillips said Sunday. "I do not believe I'm well positioned to run for it right now. People who are should jump in because we need to meet the moment. The moment is now."

Phillips is a moderate who represents Minnesota's suburban Third District. He was first elected in 2018 and is part of House Democratic leadership. Many prominent, elected Democrats, including from the centrist and liberal wings of the Minnesota DFL, have said this year they are supporting Biden's re-election effort.

That support for Biden comes as former President Donald Trump continues to loom as the front-runner in the GOP primary field even after the Republican has been indicted in several cases. Trump is looking to return to power after he and other allies tried to overturn the 2020 presidential election that he lost.

A major Biden ally also pushed back about Phillips late last month when asked about him on NBC's Sunday show "Meet the Press."

"President Biden has the strongest record of legislative accomplishment since LBJ and you're beginning to see the impact," said Delaware Democratic U.S. Sen. Chris Coons, a national co-chair of Biden's presidential campaign. "Thirteen million jobs created by the private sector, 800,000 good manufacturing jobs, 35,000 infrastructure projects out there in the country. Dean Phillips can't cite anything like that."

More than a half-century of presidential politics shows that if Phillips were to challenge Biden, the incumbent Democrat who is running for re-election, the Minnesotan would likely be defeated.

"I'm a lifelong passionate Democrat, inspired by Hubert Humphrey and Martin Luther King," Phillips said. "Democrats are telling me that they want, not a coronation, but they want a competition."

If Phillips does go on to run, it would be as a Democrat and not as a third party candidate. During his Sunday interview, Phillips urged Green Party presidential candidate Cornel West and other potential third party entrants to "think about your legacy, think about the future and consolidate around entering a Democratic primary because that's why we have primaries."