On January 22nd, three-term Democratic Congressman from Minnesota, Congressman Dean Phillips addressed Rotary Club of Nashua regarding running for President on a platform of relieving the economic hardship felt by working families, repairing our broken political system, and reimagining the solutions to the most intractable problems plaguing our society.
Born in St. Paul and raised in Minneapolis, Dean Phillips lost his birth father Artie in the Vietnam War. He was adopted at a young age into the Phillips family when his mother DeeDee married Eddie Phillips. He worked his way up at his family’s business Phillips Distilling and later went on to help build Talenti Gelato into a top national brand.
After Donald Trump was elected President in 2016, Dean ran for Congress in Minnesota’s 3rd District, flipping the district by 11 points as the first Democrat to win the suburban Minneapolis district in 60 years. When he got to Congress, he was appalled and how new members were immediately separated from the other party.
In Congress, Dean established his reputation as a problem solver and broke through partisan gridlock by making it a core mission to work across the aisle with Republican colleagues. He’s been recognized as the 2nd most bipartisan member of Congress. Dean is the only member out of 535 who refuses all PAC money, lobbyist money, doesn’t give money to or receive money from other members of Congress, and doesn’t have a leadership PAC. He strongly believes we need to keep money out of politics and leads by example. He said the path to victory is not demeaning half the people of the country. He is asking for a shot focusing on decency, integrity, truth, and fairness. He says that both parties have gone wayward. He’s disappointed in his Party and the DNC for bypassing NH. We need to let the States be the laboratory to test out new ideas.
Dean spent 90 days in NH and is so grateful for the hospitality shown him. It was “the most joyful journey of my life”, he said. And he “would like to take the 4-way test banner with him to Washington”.
Phillips took several questions, including his opinion on how we finance the government, Social Security, and what he thinks about rank choice voting.
On government spending, it’s been generations of mismanagement. We are $33T in debt. We spent $2T more than what we bring in, yet there is widespread homelessness. We need to be more efficient with money and put a focus on investing – in people starting at birth (American Dream accounts) with periodic incentives, in peace and prevention from a national security perspective. We should raise the Social Security contribution cap and create a pool of money designated for the most vulnerable.