Candidates challenging incumbent presidents who are seeking reelection have always faced very long odds. Those odds get even longer when a state party appears to go out of its way to keep challengers off the ballot.
Consider the case of the Florida Democratic Party, which recently declared that the only candidate who qualified to run in its presidential primary is…incumbent President Joe Biden.
Naturally, this deeply upset would-be Biden challenger, Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips, who said:
“The intentional disenfranchisement of voters runs counter to everything for which our Democratic Party and country stand. Our mission as Democrats is to defeat authoritarians, not become them. In America, we the people choose those who represent us, not a handful of Party insiders seeking a coronation while preventing competition,” he continued. “That's why I call on President Biden and Americans of all political affiliations to condemn and immediately address this blatant act of electoral corruption.”
A spokesperson for the Florida Democratic Party called Phillip's statements “conspiratorial and inappropriate” in a statement and called his remarks “unbecoming.”
Right. As Politico reports:
Under state law, it is left up to the parties to decide who makes the primary ballot. The deadline for parties to submit a list of approved candidates to state election officials is Thursday.
But Florida Democrats acted before then, sending a notice on Nov. 1 to the state that had Biden as the only primary candidate. Phillips had entered the race a few days earlier, and self-help guru Marianne Williamson had been campaigning for months by then. Under state law, if a party only signs off on one candidate for the primary ballot, the contest is not held.
While whatever Mr. Phillips proposes to do its likely to fail, the episode does make clear that for all their talk about voting rights, democracy, choice, etc., Democrats are as eager as any other political group to defend its incumbents and the status quo.
That doesn't make them evil. But it does make them hypocrites.
And just to underline that point:
Earlier this month, Phillips apologized to [Vermont Sen. Bernie] Sanders on X, formerly known as Twitter, writing: “I had long dismissed his complaints about the rigged Democratic Party primary system. But you know what? He was right.”
Welcome to the incumbent protection racket, Mr. Phillips, where a political party's brochure-friendly principles and pocket talking points go to die.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
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