Dean Phillips

Phillips was CEO of Phillips Distilling Company, his family business, for around 10 years. In 2012, he stepped down from the role to join with Talenti, a gelato business that was sold to Unilever in 2014. He also founded Penny’s Coffee in downtown Minneapolis, opening two locations that have since closed, according to the Star Tribune.

In Congress, Phillips is a member of the House Small Business Committee. He has cited his experience as a business owner, saying small businesses “are the engine that drive our economy.”

Phillips supported the landmark Inflation Reduction Act and has backed other efforts to lower the cost of goods and services.

Phillips last year proposed the Pathways to Policing Act, an effort to provide funding for officer recruitment. On his congressional campaign page, Phillips said he thinks public safety can be enhanced through funding for police and other first responders to help recruit and retain “the best and the brightest.”

Phillips called the Supreme Court’s decision last year to overturn Roe v. Wade “a dangerous erosion of freedom, liberty, and privacy” and pushed to codify its protections into law.

Back in 2021, Phillips introduced a bill aimed at expanding coverage for telehealth services. “For many conditions, there is simply no reason for health care to be tied to brick-and-mortar institutions,” he said.

“Our planet will survive, but if we don’t take urgent action, humanity may not,” Phillips said of climate change, per his congressional campaign website. “America must resume its role as a global leader in addressing this crisis.”

As a congressman, Phillips praised the climate initiatives in the Inflation Reduction Act, and he has advocated for curbing greenhouse gas emissions and upping conservation efforts.

In Congress, Phillips is a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

“We need the United States to continue to support Israel. We need to eradicate Hamas. And we need to encourage Palestinians to elevate a leadership that can sit at the table with principle, with good character, and with the intention for peace,” Phillips told Minnesota Public Radio News after the militant group Hamas attacked Israel in October.

Phillips slammed the Biden administration over the southern border after kicking off his presidential bid. “Right now, having been to the southern border twice, it is not secure,” he said.