Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) criticized his party for being “totally devoid of leadership” and urged his colleagues to listen more to working-class voters around the country.
“This party needs a comprehensive turnaround, and conventional wisdom no longer works. A party that consists of multiple silos and campaign committees and outside groups cannot strategically do its job, and that means leadership,” Phillips, who earlier this year mounted a primary bid against President Biden, said during an interview with Politico that was published Saturday morning.
“Right now, we are totally devoid of leadership. We are rudderless,” he said in his exit interview.
The outgoing Minnesota lawmaker was critical of the Democratic Party following President-elect Trump’s win in the 2024 presidential election over Vice President Harris. Phillips, who dropped his long-shot White House run in March, was one of the rare Democrats to call for Biden to step aside months before the president followed through on it in July.
“I don’t know which Democratic Party member my colleagues would point to as the leader, de facto leader, and absent that, I don’t see much, frankly, happening,” he said in the interview.
“What do we have to do? Listen, it’s not that hard. This is not rocket science. This is representation. It starts with listening, and it means getting out to places and spaces and people and communities that we’ve all but turned our back on,” he added.
Phillips’s comments come as Democrats have been forced to recalibrate after Republicans gained a trifecta this last election cycle.
The retiring Democratic legislator said it was “ironic” that the GOP “is now representing America’s working class,” referring to constituents that traditionally voted for Democrats, but have shifted rightward in the 2024 contest, according to exit polling.
“It’s astounding, and that was ceded to them by people that have prioritized things like tenure over talent, identity politics over pragmatic problem-solving. It’s as simple as that, but it takes leadership,” Phillips said.
Phillips, who represents Minnesota’s 3rd Congressional District, did not rule out the possibility of running for public office again.
“I never say never, but I really don’t intend to and aspire to. I do absolutely aspire to effect change, and at least call attention to what I really believe is wrong, and it’s not political,” he said. “It’s pragmatic and real. I believe the parties need competition one way or another. It’s the only thing that I think will actually create a mechanism to push people together, to cooperate, rather than to separate in the corners and fight one another. So I do anticipate some role.”
