Dean Phillips, the U.S. representative from Minnesota's 3rd congressional district, announced his campaign for the 2024 United States presidential election on October 27, 2023.

He was one of three major candidates who have mounted primary challenges to incumbent President Joe Biden; environmental lawyer and anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. withdrew in October 2023 to run as an independent, while author Marianne Williamson suspended her campaign in February 2024 before unsuspending again later that month.

[11][12] Phillips argued during his campaign that president Biden would be a weak general election candidate due to his age and low approval ratings.

[24] Before launching his campaign, Phillips reportedly reached out to other elected Democratic officials, such as Governors Gretchen Whitmer and JB Pritzker, to convince them to enter the presidential primary race to oppose Biden, but they declined to speak with him directly.

[25][26] Phillips remarked that he found both the city of Washington D.C. and the reluctance of his fellow Democrats to call on Biden not to run again to be distastefully insular and partisan.

[27] In October 2023, he announced that he would step down as co-chair of the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee because his views on the 2024 presidential race were incongruent with the majority of his caucus.

[34][35] Phillips told CNN that when he entered the presidential race, “This was not about me.” He continued, “But my inability to attract other candidates, to inspire the president to recognize that it is time, compels me to serve my country because it appears that President Joe Biden is going to lose the next election.”[13] On the day of the campaign launch, Phillips was asked by The Daily Beast about receiving a donation from Harlan Crow, a major donor to the Republican Party and close friend with Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, for his 2020 re-election.

As for other first 100-day priorities, Phillips also said he intends to use “zero-based budgeting” and hire an international consulting firm to conduct a “top-down assessment” of the federal government.

[42] On January 18, Phillips holds campaign events in Manchester and Hanover, New Hampshire, with 2020 Democratic Primary presidential candidate Andrew Yang.

"[44] On January 23, Phillips scolded reporters during a press gaggle in New Hampshire on Monday ahead of the state's primary election, saying they weren't focused on the issues Americans care about.

An argument and central critique of Phillips's campaign is that if Democrats created room for a competitive primary against the unpopular sitting president, voters would hypothetically have a chance to hear other points of view.

[54] Phillips has objected to being left off the primary ballots of several states by their respective Democratic parties, including in Florida, North Carolina, and Tennessee.

[56] Phillips said that the DNC's letter stating that New Hampshire's presidential primary was 'meaningless' and not to seat any delegates to the convention based on the results was, “one of the most egregious affronts to democracy that I’ve ever seen in my entire lifetime as an American, period.”[57] The Florida Democratic Party's executive committee voted to cancel their primary at the end of October 2023 and declare Biden the winner ahead of a November 30 filing deadline, saying that they had not heard from Biden's challengers.

[61] In his statement to Politico, when Phillips called the handling of the primary process by the Florida Democrats a “blatant act of electoral corruption” he then demanded Biden “condemn and immediately address” it.

"[66] Phillips argued that the Democratic establishment was choking off his challenge because it couldn't accept that ‘Biden is going to get creamed’ by Trump in November.

[68][69] The New York Times reported that during his campaign, Phillips found himself “deplatformed,” taken off the ballot in some states, and rarely invited on television to make his case.

[81] Phillips received 19.9% of the vote in New Hampshire, a state that awarded no delegates due to violating calendaring rules, coming in second behind a write-in campaign for Joe Biden.

In a November 2023 interview with Abby Phillip on CNN, he stated that he would not accept the ceasefire, which mandates the release of 50 hostages in exchange for 150 Palestinian prisoners in Israel during a four-day break in fighting.

"[115][116] Phillips has been a prominent proponent of legislative measures aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions, addressing the impacts of climate change, and fostering the development of more resilient communities in Congress.

[123] He cited a confluence of factors that shifted his view in support of Medicare for All, including his experience caring for his daughter who had been diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma, the financial strain of providing health insurance to his employees as a business owner, and the dynamics of representing a congressional district which included the headquarters of UnitedHealth Group as well as many residents who struggled to access healthcare.

[124] Phillips advocates for a comprehensive approach to immigration reform, including a streamlined procedure for individuals seeking lawful entry into the country.

[129] Phillips expressed that he wants to modify the tax code to allow families to deduct their childcare expenses, raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, and make housing an all-hands-on-deck priority.

[125] Phillips has said that he wants to work in a bipartisan fashion and create a committee to recommend "balanced action" to support entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare.

This legislation aimed to finally ensure Congress fulfills its commitment to fully fund the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

And had there been other candidates on a primary stage, I’m almost certain that Americans, at least Democratic primary voters, would have selected someone in a better position to ultimately beat the most dangerous Republican candidate of our lifetime.”[156] The HuffPost reported that after the election, Phillips said of his White House bid, “I would do it a thousand times again.” And he continued, “My only regret — and it’s a big one — is that so many of my colleagues who felt exactly the same way couldn’t find the courage to say and do something about it.”[157] U.S. Representative Lloyd Doggett, who was the first sitting Democrat in Congress to openly call for President Joe Biden to withdraw from the 2024 United States presidential election after the first presidential debate, stated after Trump's win, “I only regret I didn’t do it earlier ...

I believe that the only person in our caucus who doesn’t share some responsibility for the outcome is Dean Phillips, who came out early.”[158] On December 26, 2024, Mother Jones dubbed Phillips a "Hero of 2024" because he was the only elected official to challenge Biden in the Democratic Primary who tried to say Joe Biden was too old before it was too late when everyone else around the President said he was capable of winning a second term, despite his bad poll numbers and obvious oldness.

[160] On the same day, The Guardian also reported that Phillips is “saddened” to be vindicated by the accuracy of his prediction at the time that the outgoing president could not win re-election.

[161] On December 30, 2024, The New York Times dubbed Phillips the "Most Prophetic" in their 2024 High School Yearbook of American Politics for his challenge to Biden for the Democratic nomination.

[162] On January 5, 2025, an opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal claimed that we should all "give Dean Phillips his due for questioning President Biden’s fitness for office as early as July 2022.

"[164] On February 9, 2025, former U.S. Representative Tim Roemer wrote on Salon.com an open letter to the Democratic Party where he stated, "We had an opportunity during the primary campaign (when we ignored Rep. Dean Phillips' warnings) to voice our concerns about Biden’s age or to remind him that we voted for him in 2020 to defeat Donald Trump and serve one term.