USA. Presidential elections 2024. Democratic congressman Dean Phillips has declared his candidacy

Dean Phillips formally registered as a candidate in the New Hampshire primary – traditionally the first Democratic primary race – and released a campaign spot in which he announced that he would run for president. The day before, he did the same during an interview with CBS News.

READ MORE: Biden: I plan to run for re-election

As he explained, even though he is aware of the slim chances of winning the nomination, he is running elections due to concerns about President Biden’s possible defeat given his poor ratings in polls.

“At our current rate, it looks like the Democrats will lose and Trump will be our president again. President Biden is a good man who I respect immensely. I understand why other Democrats don’t want to run against him. This is a last-minute campaign, but desperate times require desperate measures, and courage is an important value for me,” the politician announced on Friday on the X platform (formerly Twitter).

He added that his campaign will focus on economic issues and the cost of living inflation. During the inaugural rally, he said that his campaign also aims to bring about generational change and “stand in the way of extremists who are taking over America and large parts of the world.”

Phillips has only been a congressman since 2019. As the heir to a family alcohol company and former head of an ice cream company, he is also one of the richest deputies in Congress. He does not hold any leading positions in the party structures or in Congress, but he became famous last year when he openly called on Biden to abandon his plans to run for re-election.

As Atlantic magazine wrote on Friday, Phillips has been trying for more than a year to get better-known Democrats to run, alarmed by the president’s poor ratings and the electorate’s broad belief that Biden is too old to run again. No politician responded to the call, even though, according to the letter, Democrats are nervous about the president’s chances and last year were convinced that Biden would not run for re-election.

Phillips is the only mainstream party candidate to challenge the president so far. Earlier, they also announced their candidacies in the Democratic primaries, among others: self-help author Marianne Williamson and nephew of President John F. Kennedy (and son of assassinated Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy) Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The latter, known primarily for his anti-vaccine views and fierce opposition to aid Ukraine, however, announced that he would run as an independent candidate. The far-left candidate, African-American Harvard professor Cornel West, will run as an independent.

READ MORE: : Robert F. Kennedy Jr. declared himself a candidate for president. He talks about a “new page in US politics”

More than a year before the November 2024 election, national polls show that Trump and Biden have roughly equal chances of winning. According to the average survey compiled by RealClearPolitics, Trump has a 0.7 percentage point advantage over Biden.