Billionaire investor Bill Ackman announced a substantial donation to a political action committee on Sunday supporting Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.), a Democratic candidate challenging President Joe Biden.
What Happened: Ackman, on Thursday, took to X (formerly Twitter) to reveal his plan to donate $1 million to the We Deserve Better PAC, which is backing Phillips’ presidential campaign.
Despite Phillips’ low standing in the polls, Ackman expressed confidence in his potential as a presidential candidate and his chances in the primary. “On Tuesday, I am wiring $1 million to wedeserve.org, a political action committee that supports Dean's run. This is by far the largest investment I have ever made in someone running for office, and I am making this investment at a high-risk, but critically important moment for his campaign,” Ackman wrote.
Despite Phillips’ trailing poll numbers and the absence of Joe Biden on the state's Democratic primary ballot, Ackman remains confident. He believes that if Phillips performs well in New Hampshire, he could gain momentum in the primary. Ackman also predicted a further decline in Biden’s popularity as the election progresses, asserting that the Democratic Party may have no choice but to choose Phillips over Biden.
"As Dean rises in the polls and Biden deteriorates, the Democratic party is going to have to choose a candidate that can beat the Republican nominee. If by then, as I expect, Dean is polling substantially better than Biden against Trump, I predict that the party will choose Dean Phillips over Biden," Ackman wrote.
"The party will have no choice."
“Biden is polling poorly against [Donald Trump], and his numbers are only going to get worse as he ages, and he is not looking good as it is. There is also a reasonable chance that Biden is forced to withdraw for health reasons.”
Why It Matters: RealClearPolitics’s average polling data for the Democratic primary indicates that Biden enjoys support from nearly 70% of the respondents. Following him is author Marianne Williamson with almost 8%, and Phillips trails behind at around 3%.
Ackman, in a podcast appearance in September last year, had advocated for younger, viable alternative candidates to Biden and Trump. As Biden gets weaker and ages in the job, the fund manager said that it is more likely that another candidate will emerge.
He has also been voicing his belief that Biden should step aside for alternative candidates. Other than Phillips, Ackman has shown support for Robert Kennedy Jr. and Vivek Ramaswamy. In a March last year, Ackman had also indicated that a non-politician could potentially win against Trump, suggesting an interesting opportunity for someone outside the political system to run on the Democratic side if Biden were to run again.
Meanwhile, Phillips, who is the recipient of Ackman’s recent donation, has himself been vocal about the risks of Biden’s re-election bid potentially leading to a second Trump presidency. Phillips has been increasingly critical of Biden's intentions to run for a second term despite acknowledging his "historic" legislative achievements.
Photo by Gage Skidmore on Wikimedia Commons
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