2018 General Election Elected 56 — 44
Trump is being hammered in the suburbs
Dean Phillips https://www.phillipsforcongress.org/ is a candidate of Minneapolis’ western suburbs. A wealthy CEO, a frequent Democratic donor, almost as frequently declining to run for office, Phillips had two reasons for running this time. 1) This looks like a Democratic year and his interest is in successful enterprises. Despite having a Republican incumbent congressman, Obama carried the district twice, Hillary Clinton carried the district in 2016, and Phillips is polling ahead of the incumbent. 2) Phillips decision to run was a response to the incumbent’s vote to abolish the Affordable Care Act.
Here are two stories from Dean Phillips childhood. 1) HIs father, Artie Pfeffer, died fighting in Vietnam when Phillips was six months old. His widowed mother married into the wealthy Phillips family. He keeps his mother’s recordings of his father’s messages home on his telephone. 2) When Dean Phillips was eleven years old, he became enamored of John Anderson’s independent campaign for president. His grandmother put a stop to that. Her advice was clear. Pauline Phillips (known to readers of advice columns as Abigail Van Buren or Dear Abby) explained that theirs was a Democratic family.
They were a long-time Democratic family in Minnesota — loyal to Hubert Humphrey for his civil rights commitment, a commitment that included opposition to the anti-Semitism that was common in Minnesota at the time.
Adopted son of the family, Dean Phillips was educated for business. A graduate of Brown, his MBA was from the University of Minnesota. He had a good run as CEO of the family business, creating, for instance. flavored Belvedere vodkas that allowed the Phillips company to compete nationally. His subsequent businesses might be thought of as interesting challenges — a gelato business to intended to compete with national ice cream brands that was eventually sold to Unilever, a coffee shop that pays its help $15 per hour. He is a business guy, though. He doesn’t pay for health insurance and would not want the $15 minimum wage imposed by a city or state authority.
Dean Phillips says the real family business has been philanthropy. He is not so much a business guy that he favors tax cuts for the wealthy. He is a Democrat happy to pay his fair share of taxes and thinks everyone should. Instead of tax cuts, he focuses on the government spending effectively. He sees medical care as a right and would add a public option to the Affordable Care Act.
Dean Phillips looks like a pretty good politician. He held a town hall during the summer when the incumbent would not. His introduction at the town hall was powerful. He explained he was pro-choice, while expressing appreciation for the commitment to life of those who oppose abortion. He advocated for greater opportunity to vote saying he would rather lose with 90% of the people voting than win with 40% voting. His response to the mother of a gay son who expressed distress at the anti-gay positions of the incumbent was to giver her a hug and to cry with her and with a fairly large portion of the audience.
Dean Phillips has been stressing listening rather that propounding positions. Even his website calls for comments from the public instead of detailing specific policies. The websites statements are clear, simple, and sometimes sentimental. There are writers in his family. He does have a primary opponent who has raised some money, but the nomination is Dean Phillips‘ to lose. He won’t lose. Will he beat the incumbent?.
Dean Phillips https://www.phillipsforcongress.org/ explains that the incumbent is not Donald Trump, but votes are aligned him. Dean Phillips will not self-fund, though he will help the campaign out. You don’t have to try to fund this campaign, but you, too, can help out. Make a modest monthly donation. Let him know you are in it for the long run, as he is.
