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dean phillips
Dean Phillips' Attack on Mamdani Is an Attack on 'Millions of Working-Class People,' Progressives Say
"The stated position here is that socialists cannot be part of the Democratic Party," said one commentator. "Does this hold for the socialist voters too?"
Jul 10, 2025
In an interview with CNN, former Congressman Dean Phillips was asked whether "there is room" for him and New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani in the Democratic Party—but progressive Rep. Summer Lee was among those saying on Thursday that Phillips' rejection of Mamdani wwas really about millions of Americans who have voted for candidates like him.
"These guys aren't just rejecting him, but the millions moved to electoral action by candidates like him," said Lee (D-Pa.) in response to Phillips' interview.
CNN's Omar Jimenez asked Phillips about the "big tent" philosophy often promoted by Democratic leaders who believe the party should welcome lawmakers and candidates who don't agree with every aspect of its platform—politicians like anti-choice Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) and former Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who made millions of dollars from his coal business.
Jimenez asked whether Mamdani, a democratic socialist who stunned former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the party's leadership in the Democratic mayoral primary last month, should also be welcomed into the party's "big tent."
"The answer ultimately is no," said Phillips, who was one of the wealthiest members of Congress before he left office to run for president in a long-shot bid against former President Joe Biden in the 2024 race—losing his home state of Minnesota and garnering just 1.7% of the vote in South Carolina, falling behind author Marianne Williamson.
Phillips admitted that "most Americans share the same values" as Mamdani, who has advocated for fare-free public transit, universal free childcare, and city-run grocery stores to operate alongside private stores and provide low-cost essentials to working families.
But he claimed that while "differences of opinion, perspective, life story, politics, and experience" are beneficial to the Democratic Party, the presence of so-called "socialists" like Mamdani is not.
"The overwhelming majority of Americans want neither far-left or far-right politics," he said without citing any supporting evidence.
Phillips appeared confident that Democratic voters across the country would recoil from candidates like Mamdani—despite recent rallies in red districts where progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), who both endorsed Mamdani, have drawn crowds of thousands of people in recent months during Sanders' Fighting Oligarchy Tour.
In addition to Mamdani's historic success in the Democratic primary—with more New Yorkers voting for him than in any other primary election in the history of the nation's largest city—numerous polls have shown that Americans back policies like those that powered his campaign.
A poll by Child Care for Every Family in 2023 found that 92% of parents with children under age 5 supported guaranteed, government-funded childcare, including 79% of Republican parents and 83% of independent parents.
Raising taxes for corporations and wealthy households is also broadly popular, with about 6 in 10 Americans supporting the proposal in a recent Pew Research poll.
And despite efforts by centrist Democrats and Republicans to portray Mamdani's platform as radical, programs like his fare-free bus proposal have already been implemented in cities like Kansas City, Raleigh, and Boston on three of the city's busiest bus routes.
"Maybe our big tent should have less millionaire nepo heirs and more fighters for the millions of working-class people," suggested Lee on Thursday.
Matt Bruenig of the People's Policy Project also condemned Phillips for suggesting Mamdani—and ostensibly the 565,639 New Yorkers who voted for him—have no place in the party.
"The stated position here is that socialists cannot be part of the Democratic Party," said Bruenig. "Does this hold for the socialist voters too? Should they also not vote for the party? Phillips is trying to radically shrink the party. Scary stuff."
"Centrists and other moderates are spending a nontrivial amount of national political energy being mad at Zohran," he added, "which could instead be spent on [President Donald] Trump and Republicans."
As Common Dreams reported Wednesday, the progressive advocacy group Our Revolution is circulating a petition that's garnered more than 30,000 signatures from people urging Democratic leaders like House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand—all New York Democrats who have yet to endorse their own party's mayoral candidate—not to "sabotage" Mamdani.
Despite Phillips' insistence that Mamdani doesn't belong in the party, the resistance in New York appeared to weaken a bit Thursday as Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.) endorsed the candidate.
"New Yorkers have spoken loud and clear," said Espaillat, who had previously backed Cuomo. "And as a lifelong Democrat, I'm endorsing the Democratic Party nominee."
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Trump's Fascist Consolidation of GOP Advances as Haley Quits, McConnell Endorses
U.S. voters, said one campaigner, now have a choice "between an aspiring dictator who is running for office so that he can escape accountability and punish his political enemies, and a leader who will protect our democracy."
Mar 06, 2024
The Republican Party's lurch toward fascism appeared to accelerate Wednesday as former President Donald Trump notched two important political victories and fresh warnings emerged of the stark choice U.S. voters face with a 2020 rematch against President Joe Biden now all but certain.
Following a slew of Super Tuesday defeats and Monday's ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court—which includes three Trump appointees—to block states from barring the presumptive Republican nominee from the ballot for engaging in insurrection, Nikki Haley dropped out of the GOP presidential primary and outgoing Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) endorsed the 77-year-old former president.
Christina Harvey, executive director of the progressive advocacy group Stand Up America, emphasized the stakes of the upcoming election, saying that "Republicans have effectively chosen an aspiring dictator as their nominee for president."
"Trump's plans to undermine our freedoms and our democracy should be chilling to every American, including his pledges to abuse his power to seek revenge on political opponents, pardon his violent allies, and purge dissenters from the federal government," she said. "Voters will face a clear choice this fall, between an aspiring dictator who is running for office so that he can escape accountability and punish his political enemies, and a leader who will protect our democracy and fundamental freedoms."
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) also warned against Trump and suggested the choice could not be more clear.
"Another Trump presidency would be a disaster—not only for our country, but for the world," Sanders said. "We will lose the fight against climate change. Women will no longer have control over their own bodies. Billionaires will get richer and working people will suffer."
Sanders, who ran for president in both 2016 and 2020, also spoke about the threat Trump poses during a Tuesday night appearance with late-night host Stephen Colbert.
Another Trump presidency would be a disaster — not only for our country, but for the world.
We will lose the fight against climate change.
Women will no longer have control over their own bodies.
Billionaires will get richer and working people will suffer. pic.twitter.com/hkdUyGkwzU
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) March 6, 2024
Haley, who previously served as South Carolina's governor and Trump's ambassador to the United Nations, was the last Republican challenging him. She suspended her campaign after winning just the District of Columbia and Vermont.
"I have always been a conservative Republican and always supported the Republican nominee," she said. "It is now up to Donald Trump to earn the votes of those in our party and beyond it who did not support him and I hope he does that."
Responding to Haley's decision to exit the primary race, Biden said in a statement Wednesday that "Donald Trump made it clear he doesn't want Nikki Haley's supporters. I want to be clear: There is a place for them in my campaign."
"I know there is a lot we won't agree on," he acknowledged. "But on the fundamental issues of preserving American democracy, on standing up for the rule of law, on treating each other with decency and dignity and respect, on preserving NATO and standing up to America's adversaries, I hope and believe we can find common ground."
"We all know this is no ordinary election. And the stakes for America couldn't be higher," Biden stressed.
Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC) president Heather Williams also warned of the threat posed by Trump and his committed far-right allies nationwide.
"As Donald Trump solidifies his control of the Republican Party, we can't lose sight of the hundreds of MAGA Trump loyalists serving in legislatures across the country who pose a direct threat to our communities and our democracy," she said. "These MAGA die-hards will stop at nothing to advance Trump's dangerous agenda, even as he careens more and more towards becoming a hardline dictator."
"From pushing for a nationwide abortion ban to destroying the foundation of our democracy, a Trump presidency would be supported and enacted by his allies in state legislatures," Williams warned. "The DLCC is sounding the alarm on the dangers of a united MAGA front at the national and state level, and we are laser-focused on defeating MAGA loyalists in state legislatures."
Although the U.S. Supreme Court last June ruled against the independent state legislature theory that Trump supporters used to justify their attempts to overturn the 2020 election results, CNN's Marshall Cohen noted at the time that "the somewhat limited ruling leaves plenty of avenues for future election-related challenges, regarding how districts are drawn, the deadlines for mail-in ballots, and other key questions."
Trump has been the GOP front-runner since formally launching his campaign in November 2022 and recent polling shows him having a slim lead over Biden in this year's anticipated rematch. This, despite the Republican being impeached twice during his first term and now facing four criminal cases—two related to his 2020 election interference.
Biden has faced criticism from many Democratic and younger voters for not being bold enough in tackling the climate emergency and for supporting Israel's ongoing assault on the Gaza Strip, which is being investigated at the International Court of Justice as genocide.
Congressman Dean Phillips (D-Minn.), a longshot Biden primary challenger, suspended his campaign on Wednesday and endorsed the president for reelection, saying that "in light of the stark reality we face, I ask you join me in mobilizing, energizing, and doing everything you can to help keep a man of decency and integrity in the White House. That's Joe Biden."
Speaking on MSNBC after McConnell's endorsement on Wednesday, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) said that he believes American voters "know who Donald Trump is," but the real question for 2024 remains: "Who are we?"
"Are we going to stand with democracy and freedom or will we lapse into some other kind of theocratic or autocratic kind of government?" the congressman asked. "That's really the question for the American people."
Raskin—who led the historic second Trump impeachment following the January 6, 2021 insurrection—also called out the ex-president for continuing "to campaign almost exclusively on his Big Lie and the idea that he was somehow cheated out of an election."
"He wasn't. He lost the election in 2020," Raskin added of Trump. "He's going to lose the election in 2024 because the vast majority of the people reject what it is he's selling."
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'Political Deepfake Moment Is Here': NH Robocall Sounds Like Biden
"The New Hampshire deepfake is a reminder of the many ways that deepfakes can sow confusion and perpetuate fraud," said one critic.
Jan 22, 2024
The U.S. watchdog group Public Citizen responded to reporting of a robocall intended to sound like Democratic President Joe Biden on the eve of the New Hampshire primary with a renewed demand for action on artificial intelligence, particularly deepfakes, in political campaigning.
A deepfake is an image, audio, or video that seems real but has been manipulated with AI. Someone like Biden can appear to say something he never did. As the technology has advanced, Public Citizen has been calling for rules from the Federal Elections Commission (FEC).
"Policymakers must rush to put in place protections or we're facing electoral chaos."
"The political deepfake moment is here," Public Citizen president Robert Weissman said in a statement Monday. "Policymakers must rush to put in place protections or we're facing electoral chaos. The New Hampshire deepfake is a reminder of the many ways that deepfakes can sow confusion and perpetuate fraud."
Biden is not appearing on New Hampshire's primary ballot due to a battle between state leaders and the Democratic National Committee but some supporters are urging voters to write in his name on Tuesday. Another grassroots campaign in the state aims to pressure the president to end Israel's war on the Gaza Strip by encouraging voters to instead write "cease-fire."
In the robocall reported by NBC News, the fake Biden directs New Hampshire voters not to participate in the presidential primary, claiming that doing so only helps Republicans elect former President Donald Trump, whose campaign denied any involvement.
NBC noted that the call includes "a phone number belonging to Kathy Sullivan, a former New Hampshire Democratic Party chair who now runs a super PAC supporting the campaign to urge New Hampshire Democrats to write in Biden's name in the primary."
According to the outlet:
In an interview, Sullivan said she began receiving calls Sunday evening from those who had received the message. A woman she spoke to told her that Biden had called her, though she said she was not a Biden supporter.
"I said, 'You got a call from Joe Biden, and he gave you my number?'" Sullivan said she responded.
A volunteer for the write-in effort also received the call and recorded it, Sullivan said, and shared it with organizers of the Biden write-in campaign. One of the organizers then shared it with NBC News.
Sullivan also said that whoever is behind the potentially illegal call, "it's obviously somebody who wants to hurt Joe Biden."
"I want them to be prosecuted to the fullest extent possible, because this is an attack on democracy," she added. "I'm not going to let it go. I want to know who's paying for it. Who knew about it? Who benefits?"
The office of the state's Republican attorney general, John Formella, said in a statement Monday that the call appears to be an unlawful voter suppression effort and "the Election Law Unit's investigation is ongoing."
Weissman explained that at the national level, "unfortunately, the Federal Election Commission is slow-walking the issue—though it's not too late for the agency to issue needed rules. Congress must act, and there is strong bipartisan support for action, but it would be foolish to bet on congressional action."
Republican FEC Chair Sean Cooksey said last week that the commission "will resolve the AI rulemaking by early summer," which is after many state primaries—a timeline that Weissman previously called "intolerable" given fears of what one expert predicted will be "a tsunami of misinformation" this election cycle.
"The good news is that states are rushing to fill the gap, with more than two dozen states having legislation in place or under consideration, with many more to come," Weissman said Monday. "The most important thing is to immediately establish the legal and social norm that deepfake fraud will not be tolerated."
Also on Monday, Public Citizen and Common Cause submitted petitions urging state election officials in Alabama, Louisiana, and Wisconsin to regulate deepfakes in political campaign communications.
"AI deepfakes represent a very clear and present danger to our democracy," said Ishan Mehta, director of Common Cause's media and democracy program. "The opportunity for deceiving and misleading voters has never been so acute as it is today with the vast improvements in fake computer-generated images and voices."
"And ultimately if voters later realize that they have been duped by false and misleading—yet very convincing—campaign ads, they are going to lose even more confidence in the value of elections," Mehta warned.
Two longshot Biden challengers—Marianne Williamson and Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.)—will be on New Hampshire's Democratic primary ballot this week. Late Friday, OpenAI banned the developer of a bot mimicking Phillips, which was paid for by a super PAC supporting his campaign and made possible by the company's ChatGPT software.
As for the New Hampshire robocoll resembling Biden, Phillips' campaign told NBC that it is "wildly concerning."
"Any effort to discourage voters is disgraceful and an unacceptable affront to democracy," said Phillips spokesperson Katie Dolan. "The potential use of AI to manipulate voters is deeply disturbing."
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