Outgoing Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., told Politico on Saturday that the modern Democratic Party “needs a comprehensive turnaround” and that “conventional wisdom no longer works” to win national elections.
The three-term moderate from Minnesota’s 3rd Congressional District gave an exit interview to the outlet in which he offered no regrets for trying to primary President Joe Biden, but did call out the fixed power structure that has embedded itself in Washington.
“I wish I had known about the concentration of power centers here, and how this entire system has been designed to accrue that power amongst very few at the expense of the very many, and that makes this job incredibly difficult,” he said.
Phillips saw early warning signs of Biden’s cognitive decline and hoped to give Democrat voters an alternative voice to challenge President-elect Donald Trump. That move was quickly rebuffed by those in the Democrat’s powerbase.
“I was surprised by some of the people that expressed sentiments that, to this very day, kind of shock me, including from my own delegation. But that’s why I did it. That’s exactly why I did it," Phillips said. "It’s the absence of the willingness to acknowledge reality.
"We have put Americans in this position where they have to wonder if what they’re seeing is real, because members of Congress won’t even validate it, and it was deeply disappointing, but not at all surprising. And that’s why I, of all people, had to do it, because nobody else would."
Phillips noted that the two parties have flipped constituents with the Democrats now being the party of the insulated hyperelite and subsidized poor with Republicans pulling in the majority of the working middle class Americans.
“I think it’s ironic that the Republican Party is now representing America’s working class. 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.
The former businessman from Minnesota ended his interview by encouraging more people to run for office so Washington hears more diverse viewpoints and stressed lawmakers need to come from diverse professional backgrounds.
“I would encourage incoming lawmakers to prioritize principles over their own self-preservation, because when the time comes, when this career comes to a close, it will be much more satisfying, and this is an institution that does consume even the most principled,” Phillips advised.