Dean Phillips Visits The Rockefeller Center as part of the "Path to the Presidency" Series

On Monday, November 13, 2023, The Rockefeller Center hosted Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN) as part of its Path to the Presidency Series. Phillips is posing a primary challenge to President Biden and offered his vision for America to Dartmouth community members in Filene Auditorium.

Phillips, who described himself as an "eternal optimist," began by thanking Dartmouth for providing him with the opportunity to share his vision.

"We are going to solve all the problems facing the country and the world by giving space and place for people of all backgrounds, races, religions, politics, and geographies to sit down and find some commonality," Phillips said.

Phillips went on to give the audience his background. His father was killed in a helicopter crash in the Vietnam War after watching the moon landing two days earlier. Phillips contrasted the two events and said his father watched "the most extraordinary human mission in world history while sitting halfway around the world in one of the biggest debacles in American history." He used the contrast as a metaphor for America.

"Therein lies the American truth," Phillips said. "When we're at our best, we are extraordinary. And when we're not, we can be very dangerous to both our own countrymen and women, and to the world."

When Phillips was three years old, he was adopted by a wealthy family. He acknowledged that he "got lucky" and related his experience to America, which he said should "recognize how grateful we should be and convert those great blessings of good fortune into something better."

Phillips credited his family with fueling his interest in business, which later translated to his political philosophy. "Money is like manure," Phillips said. "If you stack it up, it really stinks."

He cited his work in Congress as dealing with great economic challenges, and more specifically deciding how to allocate the fortune of the "wealthiest, most successful, longest-lasting democracy that exists."

Once in Congress, Phillips explained that he took issue with the status quo that both former Speakers Nancy Pelosi and Kevin McCarthy enabled. He explained that he had hoped Democrats and Republicans would sit together and get to know each other to build trust, but his first moments as a member of Congress were traveling on separate buses to different events.

"They did not want us to get to know each other," Phillips accused. "They wanted to keep us as busy as humanly possible so that we would not challenge the centralized power structure on both the right and left."

Phillips emphasized that he wanted to do things differently, which is why he joined the Problem Solvers Caucus and eventually became Vice Chair. He pointed to his work with Rep. Chip Roy, a staunch conservative, to promote small businesses through a bill that was eventually signed into law by former President Trump. According to Phillips, that is how he believes America should work.

Phillips then turned to the most salient issue of the night: why challenge a sitting Democratic president and potentially cripple his re-election campaign? He said he has "great respect for President Biden" but believes that "he is the only Democrat who could lose, and probably will, to Trump in 2024."

"This is not a campaign of destruction against the President," Phillips said. "To the contrary, it is a campaign to prevent the destruction of democracy when Donald Trump defeats Joe Biden."

Phillips concluded by saying, "I'm running for president because I deeply believe that we can get this done, and we can have some fun and bring a lot of optimism and hope back to a country that is really in need of it right now."

In the moderated Q&A, Phillips articulated the need for America to be more welcoming to immigrants and criticized large donors for employing "legalized corruption."

Phillips' event was co-sponsored by the Dartmouth Political Union.

By Varun Swaminathan '26, Rockefeller Center Student Assistant for Public Programs