Joe Biden’s Democratic challengers have been hoping for a strong showing in the primary on Tuesday.
Democratic presidential hopeful Representative Dean Phillips of Minnesota appears to be facing an uphill battle in his long-shot bid to defeat incumbent President Joe Biden in the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday.
Although Biden remains deeply unpopular, and some polls have shown that a majority of Democrats would prefer an alternative candidate, Phillips has struggled to make headway since he announced his primary challenge at the end of October. The congressman launched his run by saying that he respected Biden and largely aligned with his agenda, however, he raised alarms about the president’s historically poor approval rating—saying that he believed the incumbent would lose in November.
In addition to Phillips, progressive author and spiritual leader Marianne Williamson is in the running for the Democratic nomination. Recent polls out of New Hampshire show her with single-digit support. Meanwhile, Phillips remains underwater by double-digit margins against Biden.
Williamson and Phillips both hope to make a strong showing in New Hampshire, a state which Biden’s campaign all but abandoned. A rule change backed by Biden at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) required South Carolina to be the first primary state for the party, but New Hampshire’s state constitution requires its primaries to be the first in the nation.
