Biden trolls primary opponent: 'Will miss his support for the Biden-Harris' agenda

President Joe Biden has rarely commented on the Democratic presidential primary campaign of Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minnesota), but he made an exception following Phillips' Friday announcement that he was retiring from Congress.

Phillips, who was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2018, threw his hat into the presidential ring in late October, becoming the first sitting Democratic member of Congress to run against Biden in the 2024 Democratic primary. On Friday, Phillips said he would not be running for a fourth term, saying it was "time to pass the torch."

"No party has a monopoly on solutions, and we must stop fighting one another and begin fighting for one another - before it is too late," Phillips said in a statement posted to his congressional website. "The future is very bright, as long as we have the courage and make the choice to seek it. Keep the faith!"

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In response to Phillips' retirement announcement, White House spokesman Andrew Bates touted Phillips' unflagging support for the president's policies, pointing out that he consistently voted almost in lockstep with Biden while on Congress.

"Congressman Phillips has voted for nearly 100% of President Biden’s policies, and the President will miss his support for the Biden-Harris legislative agenda,” Bates told NBC.

Phillips choosing to not seek another term may be due to the fact that longtime financial backers of his previous campaigns have largely been withholding their support since Phillips began his quixotic run for the presidency. CNBC reported earlier this month that Vance Opperman — a longtime Democratic donor who is considered a major player in Minnesota politics — asked Phillips to not use any of his donations to fund his presidential primary campaign. He also suggested several more donors to Phillips may be souring on the congressman.

"We’ve had weekly contact with all the people who write checks toward Democrats. This topic [Phillips running for president] has come up," Opperman said. "Nobody is going to give to him."

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