House member says 'literally hundreds' of fellow congressional Dems wary of Biden as 2024 nominee

Minnesota Democrat Rep. Dean Phillips says "literally hundreds" of fellow congressional Democrats are apprehensive about the idea of President Biden being their 2024 presidential nominee.

"This is not a knock on Joe Biden, just a wish for competition," Phillips told The Atlantic this week.

Phillips said Biden's approval rating, which polling outlet FiveThirtyEight now averages at 43%, would bring competition if politics were a free market.

"In the business world, if the dominant brand in a category had favorability ratings like the current president does, you would see a number of established brands jump into that category," he said.

"Believe me, there are literally hundreds in Congress who would say the same thing," Phillips, the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee co-chairperson, said. "But they simply won’t f****** say a word."

The 80-year-old Biden has not formally announced his 2024 campaign, but support is growing. In an Emerson College survey Tuesday, 71% of Democrat voters said Biden should be the party's nominee in 2024, up from 58%  last month in another Emerson poll, according to The Hill.