Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips, who ended his long-shot Democratic primary challenge to President Joe Biden this week, denied Thursday that his campaign had weakened Biden politically.
“I think, to the contrary, I think he did so well in the Democratic primaries that I think he looks awfully strong,” Phillips told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “The Lead” when asked whether he was worried he had.
On the campaign trail, the Minnesota Democrat questioned Biden’s ability to win in November and serve out a second term. But on Wednesday, he exited the presidential race and endorsed Biden, who has dominated nearly every Democratic nominating contest so far this year.
Phillips told Tapper that his job is to now convince the large portion of Americans who share his concerns about Biden that they need to support his reelection, or else face what he argued was the threat posed by presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump.
“I think 86% of the country, Jake, has said that [Biden is too old], but there’s something a whole lot more important,” he said, adding that it’s “better to take a chance” with Biden “because he’s a good man, a decent man, a man of principle, experience and wisdom, compared to the alternative.”
An ABC News/Ipsos poll conducted last month found that 86% of Americans think Biden is too old to serve another term as president.
Phillips denied Thursday that he had ever challenged Biden’s mental acuity or cognition, though he said he still thinks the president is “very compromised” electorally, pointing to general election polling that shows Biden trailing Trump.
“He is not in cognitive decline. Yes, he’s an 81-year-old man. Like any of us, he’s going to slow down,” Phillips said, adding that Biden is still able to…
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