Dean Phillips Entertains 3rd Party Bid For President — On One Condition

 Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN), a long-shot candidate for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, says he would consider a third-party bid for the White House under the right circumstances.

According to multiple reports over the weekend, Phillips signaled he would be open to a campaign under the No Labels banner if President Joe Biden appears likely to lose against former President Donald Trumpshould they face each other again in the general election.

“It would have to be a Joe Biden-Donald Trump rematch that shows Joe Biden is almost certain to lose,” Phillips told The New York Times. “That is the only condition in which I would even entertain a conversation with any alternative.”

In a Washington Post interview, Phillips said the data would have to indicate a “better way” to defeat Trump for him to contemplate a third-party run. For now, Phillips said he is “focused exclusively on running as a Democrat and securing the nomination because that is the most expeditious, reasonable, common-sense way forward.”

Phillips, like other challengers against the incumbent, trails Biden by a wide margin in polls and faces hurdles in trying to get on the ballot in key states, such as Florida and North Carolina.

But the congressman has attracted support from high-profile figures, including billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman and 2020 presidential candidate Andrew Yang. He has painted Biden as “unelectable and weak” heading into the first nomination contests for the Democrats this election cycle.

No Labels is an organization touting an “insurance project” in the form of a “Unity ticket,” citing polls that show broad dissatisfaction among voters when considering the prospect of a 2020 rematch between Biden and Trump.

As reported by The Washington Examiner this month, No Labels is considering at least 13 possible candidates, and the group says a decision will be made on whether to move forward sometime after March 15.

 

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) has long been speculated to be mulling a potential run with No Labels. He announced in November that he would not seek re-election and planned to travel around the country “to see if there’s an interest in creating a movement to mobilize the middle and bring Americans together.”

Biden’s re-election campaign dismissed on Sunday the notion that the incumbent could face a viable threat from a third-party candidate now that Phillips is mulling a No Labels bid.

“At the end of the day, there’s only going to be two parties that have an ability to get to 270 electoral votes, and that’s going to be Joe Biden as a Democratic nominee and whoever emerges from the extreme Republican primary that’s going on right now,” Biden principal deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks said on ABC’s “This Week.”