'He's a non-entity': House Democrats no longer see Dean Phillips as a threat — just a joke

• House Democrats were once angry about Rep. Dean Phillips's primary bid against Joe Biden.
• For many of them, it's now a sad punchline.
• "I mean, he's living his journey," said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

When Rep. Dean Phillips first began making noise about launching a quixotic presidential campaign, the mood among House Democrats might have best been described as anger and disbelief.

"He seems to be taking a page out of the Trump playbook," Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove told Axios in December. Before Phillips launched his campaign in October, the California congresswoman had reportedly raised questions about his criticisms of President Joe Biden during a closed-door caucus meeting.

But months later, Kamlager-Dove and most of her Democratic colleagues appear unbothered, with the California congresswoman telling Business Insider this week that she doesn't "think about it at all."

"I wish he'd show up to vote," she deadpanned. Since launching his campaign, Phillips has generally been absent from Capitol Hill, effectively cutting down Democrats' ranks by one seat.

On Wednesday evening, Sen. Tina Smith made light of her Minnesota colleague's recent struggles in a video message to the Congressional Dinner, an annual gathering of reporters and lawmakers. Smith, sick with the flu, couldn't make it in person for her headline address.

"The only way it would have worked is if everybody had agreed to get up and leave the room when I started talking," said Smith. "You know, kind of like a Dean Phillips rally."

At first, Phillips's campaign seemed to constitute a real threat to Biden, even if he was unlikely to actually defeat him. The Minnesota Democrat's platform has essentially boiled down to a critique of Biden's age, one of the president's main political weaknesses, and a fear that Biden will be unable to defeat former President Donald Trump again.

But at this point, Phillips has no obvious path to victory, and his colleagues still don't appreciate what he's doing.

"I think it's more of a joke at this point," said Rep. Maxwell Frost of Florida, who initially asked "who?" when his Minnesota colleague's name was mentioned. "He doesn't have the resources to be super competitive."

In a statement for this story, a Phillips spokesperson chastised his Democratic colleagues who now speak ill of him.

"Rep. Phillips extends his thanks to his friends in Congress for their kind words and encouragement — it takes real courage on their part to sit back and reject democracy in favor of a coronation that will hand our country back over to Donald Trump," the spokesperson said. "He looks forward to seeing them on Capitol Hill this upcoming week for votes, and welcomes them to join him for a coffee to share their thoughts with him personally."

At this point, the Minnesota congressman is still polling abysmally against Biden and is being kept off the Democrat primary ballot in several states. After staking the viability of his campaign on a win in New Hampshire — which won't even award delegates this year and where Biden did not appear on the ballot — Phillips easily lost to a Biden write-in campaign.

"It's not something I think about," Rep. Brendan Boyle of Pennsylvania said of Phillips's campaign. "Both primaries are clearly over."

'A nonentity as far as the race is concerned'

As the anxiety about Phillips among House Democrats has waned, many increasingly take a blasé, even humorous approach to the whole ordeal.

"I mean, he's living his journey, you know?" Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said with a big smile, apparently unbothered.

The Democratic socialist congresswoman has had her own differences with Biden, once declaring that she wouldn't belong to the same party as him if this were any other country. But this cycle, she remains firmly behind Biden, praising his commitments to organized labor, combatting the climate crisis, and a recent pause on natural gas exports. "These are things that are actually to Dean's left, I think," she said.

The New York congresswoman was also dismissive of Phillips's belated embrace of Medicare for All, given his record as a staunch moderate. "I carry about someone who has a record of fighting for [universal health care]," she said.

These days, questions to House Democrats about Phillips are likely to elicit a noise that sounds like some combination of laughter and an exhausted sigh, often coupled with a declaration of collegial respect for Phillips and an assurance that they're totally focused on Congress.

"Oh, I can't talk, my voice is hoarse," joked Rep. Angie Craig, a fellow Minnesota Democrat (her voice was, in fact, hoarse). A year and a half ago, Craig said that she was "in lockstep and alignment with" Phillips on the need for new leadership at the top of the Democratic Party, suggesting that she wouldn't back Biden again.

But Craig has since come around, calling Phillips's bid "unhelpful to the country." And she says she hasn't spoken to Phillips since he launched his campaign, aside from a brief conversation when he returned to Congress for votes.

"Dean's been a friend of mine," said Craig. "But look, we've got a lot of business here, I don't have time to focus on Dean Phillips's presidential run."

Meanwhile, Phillips's campaign has become ever more farcical.

His rhetoric against Biden has grown more personal, he seemingly flirted with the idea of running on the centrist "No Labels" ticket, and he recently removed a reference to diversity, equity, and inclusion from his website. Many days, Phillips can be seen enticing his followers to ask him questions on Twitter, and he recently struggled to hold the attention of attendees at a recent South Carolina Democratic Party dinner — the incident Smith referenced in her video address.

"Oh no," Rep Jim Clyburn, a staunch ally of Biden, said with a laugh in reaction to the incident. "I don't know why he's running. He never told me."

"I'm not gonna speak ill of colleagues, let's say that," said Rep. Mark Pocan of Wisconsin, before taking a swipe anyway: "He's a nonentity as far as the race is concerned."

Not everyone is ready to dunk on their also-ran colleague.

Rep. Ro Khanna of California, who's sparred with Phillips on Twitter over the congressman's holier-than-thou claims of ethical behavior, offered that running a presidential campaign is "very, very, very hard," and that "most people who do it don't get more than a couple percent."

But one can detect just a hint of pity in the way Khanna, a staunch supporter of Biden, speaks of Phillips's bid.

"It's easy to make fun of him, but ultimately, it's not the critic that counts, right?" Khanna added. "I never criticize people for their passion."