From the Good for the Goose Dept.: With Rep. Dean Phillips openly mooting a primary challenge to Joe Biden (“Democrats are telling me that they want, not a coronation, but they want a competition”), the third-term congressman might soon find out just how unpleasant his own medicine tastes. According to Morning Take, a local Minnesota tipsheet, “The buzz within” Democratic Party circles is whether Phillips “will draw a primary challenger” thanks to his effort to derail the president’s path to renomination.
To that end, the publication cites former state Sen. Melisa López Franzen as a “name that is floated frequently,” though she hasn’t said anything publicly. Franzen was first elected to the state Senate in 2012 and served for a decade, rising to the post of minority leader in her final two years. However, following the most recent round of redistricting, she opted not to run again in 2022 after new maps paired her with a fellow Democratic incumbent, Ron Latz. (Democrats went on to win back the Senate last year, earning their first trifecta in a decade.)
Franzen’s old legislative district in the Minneapolis suburbs largely overlaps with Phillip’s 3rd Congressional District, which would give her a base of support should she run. And Phillips would have no choice but to encourage her: “Democrats in the country need competition,” he said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” Sunday. “It makes everything better.”
David Nir
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