Democratic presidential candidate Dean Phillips and the Florida Democratic Party clashed Thursday after the Minnesota congressman said his name would not be appearing on the presidential primary ballot.
Phillips’s campaign asserted in a press release that the Florida Democratic Party’s executive committee voted Oct. 29 to solely include President Biden on the primary ballot, alleging that “the Florida Democratic Party has stripped the right of every Florida Democrat to vote for the candidate of their choice since the state will not issue a ballot for a party primary with only one candidate.”
The campaign also alleged that the state party’s delegate selection plan ran afoul of rules set by the Democratic National Committee (DNC), which stipulate that delegates are to “be allocated in a fashion that fairly reflects the expressed presidential preference or uncommitted status of the primary voters.”
The campaign said it was considering potential legal action against the state party and vowed that if the Florida Democratic Party and DNC did not remedy the issue, it would challenge all of the Florida delegates who were selected to go to the national convention.
“Americans would expect the absence of democracy in Tehran, not Tallahassee,” Phillips said in a statement.
“The intentional disenfranchisement of voters runs counter to everything for which our Democratic Party and country stand. Our mission as Democrats is to defeat authoritarians, not become them. In America, we the people choose those who represent us, not a handful of Party insiders seeking a coronation while preventing competition,” he continued. “That’s why I call on President Biden and Americans of all political affiliations to condemn and immediately address this blatant act of electoral corruption.”
A statement from a spokesperson for the Florida Democratic Party called Phillip’s statements “conspiratorial and inappropriate” and called his remarks “unbecoming.”
A state Democratic Party spokesperson called the process “standard” and said its website publicly outlined their process for making the Florida ballot.
“It clearly states that the Florida Democratic Party’s primary ballot is submitted to the Secretary of State by November 30, 2023,” the person added.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson from the DNC suggested that the Phillips campaign did not take the DNC up on its offer weeks ago to help the campaign navigate state party processes, though the spokesperson noted that those resources remain available.
A spokesperson for the Biden campaign did not have a comment regarding Phillips’s remarks.
Phillips is looking to run a long-shot campaign against Biden, though the Minnesota Democrat faces an uphill battle in toppling the president. Phillips has centered his message around pushing for generational change in leadership and argues that Biden will lose to former President Trump if it’s a rematch in 2024.
But Democrats have largely spurned Phillips and have coalesced around the president, even as polls point to concerns over the president’s age and his viability against Trump next fall.