Dean Phillips, an heir to a Minnesota liquor fortune who later helped launch a successful gelato brand, said Monday he's preparing to run for Congress as a DFLer next year against U.S. Rep. Erik Paulsen.
Phillips of Deephaven said he'd officially launch a campaign in the coming days. "I'm concerned about the direction in which our country is headed," he said in an interview.
Paulsen is a fifth-term Republican from Eden Prairie and a member of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee. He declined through a spokesman to comment on Phillips' candidacy.
Phillips, 48, said he started to think about a political career after the last election. In December, he finalized the sale of Talenti, a gelato beloved by connoisseurs and notable for its glamour pricing, to Unilever. His family for decades built Phillips Distilling Co., founded in 1912 by his great-great-grandfather, into a major spirits company.
"I think that experience building businesses and taking care of employees and enriching communities where we do business are principles the district and the country can put to use," he said.
His timeline for running accelerated, Phillips said, after Paulsen voted with the GOP majority last week to approve a major health care overhaul. Republicans including Paulsen called it a necessary first step to repealing provisions ofthe Affordable Care Act, but critics called it a tax cut for the wealthy financed by slashing health care for the poor.
"I would not argue that existing law doesn't require modification. But the bill just passed by the House is woefully misguided and not the answer to the challenge," Phillips said.
The Third Congressional District is largely made up of western Hennepin County suburbs. Paulsen has comfortably won re-election in recent years, most recently over former state Sen. Terri Bonoff. But national Democrats see him as vulnerable — his district voted for Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012, and last year Donald Trump lost there to Hillary Clinton by more than 35,000 votes.
