Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) has publicly apologized to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) for his previous dismissal of Sanders’ criticism of the primary system as Phillips pursues a bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.
“I have an apology to make to @BernieSanders,” Phillips wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “I had long dismissed his complaints about the rigged Democratic Party primary system.”
“But you know what? He was right. And I apologize, Bernie,” he added.
Sanders, who recently ran for the White House in 2016, had previously scrutinized the system in states with closed primaries — or those where only registered Republicans or Democrats could participate in their respective primary. He had also made comments suggesting that the Democratic Party was using a limited 2016 primary debate schedule to rig the nomination process.
Phillips’s apology comes as the three-term congressman faces a difficult path to victory in his bid for the White House.
He officially launched his primary challenge of President Biden last month after initially signaling he would not do so. The Minnesota lawmaker has been an outspoken critic about the 2024 Democratic primary and has urged others to throw their hats into the ring so the party could have a “competitive” race.
Phillips further attracted speculation that he would run when he stepped down from Democratic leadership in September. He faces an uphill battle in the primary race; the latest polls have Phillips trailing both Biden and progressive candidate Marianne Williamson in a hypothetical presidential primary.
A Quinnipiac University national poll released last week showed Phillips receiving 6 percent support among Democrats and those leaning Democrat, while Biden brought in 77 percent and Williamson received 8 percent.
Despite being critical in the past of the primary system, Sanders has called for unity among progressives supporting Biden in 2024, due to the threat of former President Trump winning reelection.
“I think at this moment, there has to be a unification of progressive people in general in all of this country, people who are prepared to make sure that women control their own body, that we deal with climate change, that we represent the needs of the working class of this country, and take on the billionaire class,” he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” in August.
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