- Rep. Dean Phillips said it’s “absurd” that Sen. Amy Klobuchar is running for reelection this year.
- He said his fellow Minnesota Democrat and others are “precluding other generations” from serving.
- Phillips, who’s waging a longshot bid against Biden, suggested 18-year term limits for Congress.
As Sen. Amy Klobuchar seeks a fourth term in the Senate, one fellow Democratic member of the Minnesota delegation isn’t having any of it.
“I think the fact that Senator Klobuchar is running for another reelection is absurd,” Rep. Dean Phillips said on “The Chad Hartman Show,” a local radio show in Minneapolis.
“This is public service. Our Founders intended it to be something about meeting the moment, serving your country, and then letting others do the same thing,” said Phillips, saying that he also believes President Joe Biden and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi shouldn’t be running again either.
Phillips suggested imposing 18-year term limits for members of Congress and Supreme Court justices. Klobuchar, who was first elected to the Senate in 2006, will have been in office for 18 years by the end of her current term next year.
“Turn it over to other Americans who wish to serve the public,” said Phillips. “We’re precluding other generations of Americans from participating, and what do they do? They kind of give up. And that’s what’s happening all around our country right now.”
In response, Klobuchar campaign spokesperson Ben Hill touted Klobuchar’s record of passing legislation and for sponsoring bipartisan bills.
“Minnesotans want leaders who get results and that’s what Senator Klobuchar does,” said Hill.
Klobuchar, at age 63, is actually younger than the average senator, though she is in the top 5th of US senators in terms of length of service.
Phillips has been waging a long shot Democratic primary campaign against Biden, though most of his House colleagues are increasingly laughing it off.
In the interview, Phillips also compared himself to former Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, who lost reelection to a GOP primary challenger after turning against former President Donald Trump.
“I’m the only one in Congress, I believe… Liz Cheney is another one who was willing to torpedo her career, as I have torpedoed my career in Congress, to simply be honest with people,” said Phillips. “And in politics, in America right now, there is no political reward for telling people the truth.”
