Dean Phillips, ex-Biden Democratic challenger, angers Kamala Harris for focusing heavily on Trump: ‘Losing voters’

The Democratic lawmaker who challenged President Biden in a rare primary over major concerns about his age is warning Veep Kamala Harris to change her message in the final days of the election.

Minnesota Congressman Dean Phillips, 55, urged Harris, 60, to reconsider her sharp focus on GOP foe and former President Donald Trump, 78, in her final arguments as November 5 approaches, and herself to focus on a more welcoming message to voters.

“A billion dollars would have been wasted losing voters through conviction rather than winning them through invitation,” Phillips lamented on X.

“She just needed to be clear about what she believes in, what she will do differently than Biden, and offer common-sense solutions to our problems. “Instead…” he added, referencing a New York Times headline – “With Kamala Harris’ closing argument: Donald Trump.”

Phillips gave up his leadership post as co-chair of the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee to challenge Biden in the 2024 Democratic primary, amid concerns that his party is headed for electoral defeat as the 81-year-old president falters at the top on the ticket.

Ultimately, the Minnesota Democrat was unsuccessful in the primary but was seemingly vindicated in July when a revolt against Biden erupted within his party over dismay over his age, culminating in his exit from the race.

Phillips cheered as Harris shot to the top of the candidate list, but still publicly urged the party to have a more open process to follow in Biden’s footsteps.

Now his home state’s Democratic governor, Tim Walz, is on the list with Harris as his vice presidential candidate.

Since blocking the nomination, Harris has tried to make some overtures to Republican and independent voters.

She promised to appoint a Republican to her Cabinet and in recent weeks has faced Republican turncoats such as former Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming.

On Wednesday, Harris also conducted a combative interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier in which she tried to avoid unfortunate remarks similar to Hillary Clinton’s “basket of regrets” in 2016.

Clinton famously used the phrase at the time to describe half of her then-presidential opponent Trump’s supporters.

In addition, Harris has attempted to lurch to the center by making dramatic policy reversals from her doomed positions from the 2020 presidential campaign, including rollbacks on a fracking ban, a national jobs guarantee, decriminalizing illegal border crossings and more.

Harris appears to have resisted pressure from Democratic strategists to highlight her differences with Biden.

Earlier this month, she suggested on ABC News’ “The View” that she would have done “nothing” differently than Biden except appoint a Republican to her Cabinet.

Still, Harris emphasized in her interview with Baier that “my presidency will not be a continuation of Joe Biden’s presidency.” But she failed to provide many details.

“To be perfectly honest, even Mike Pence included, vice presidents are not critical of their presidents,” Harris later told NBC News, referring to Trump’s chatter and describing the approach as a “tradition.”

Democrats have long been deeply concerned about Trump’s chances of returning to the White House on November 5th. Harris has described herself as an “outsider” in the race, and polls appear to have tilted slightly toward Trump over the past two weeks.

Harris has a national lead of 0.8 percentage points over Trump in the latest RealClearPolitics summary of multi-candidate polls. Trump is at the top of the RCP map of battleground states.