With Andrew Yang in tow, Dean Phillips finally draws a crowd

For Rep. Dean Phillips, challenging President Biden in the Democratic primary has produced some humbling moments, like when he failed to attract a single voter for a meet-and-greet this month.

“If you build it, sometimes they don't come,” he told reporters at the time.

But on Thursday they showed up at campaign events for Mr. Phillips, who had to weave through a crowd at the University of New Hampshire in Manchester.

Whether the gathering — a mix of disillusioned Democrats, undecided voters and the curious — was for him or for the man standing to his right was another story.

He was flanked by Andrew Yang, whose failed bid to become president in 2020 earned him some star power as he developed a devoted internet following known as the “Yang Gang.”

Mr. Yang formally endorsed Mr. Phillips later on Thursday, five days before New Hampshire holds the nation's first primary. He argued that Mr. Biden would be a problem if he faced former President Donald J. Trump again in the November election.

“Joe Biden, who I supported last time, will, in my opinion, give us the sequel to Trump,” Mr Yang, who left the Democratic Party in 2021, said in Manchester. “Dean Phillips saw this and said, 'You know what? I'm going to do something about it. ''

Mr. Phillips, a House Democrat from Minnesota who previously co-owned Talenti Gelato and introduced Belvedere Vodka to the United States, millions of dollars of his personal fortune in his bid. Since entering the race in October, he has modulated his message between moderate and progressive positions, seeking to take advantage of Mr. Biden's absence in New Hampshire.

Mr Biden refused to have his name appear on Tuesday's primary ballot after Democrats in the state refused to move their election back to make South Carolina, the state where Mr Biden revived his 2020 candidacy, the first to vote.

The president had lobbied the Democratic National Committee to change the calendar, confusing party members in New Hampshire and causing his supporters to sign in his name.

“It's disgusting,” Mr Phillips said. “It is oppressive. I think it is downright unconstitutional and certainly anti-democratic.”

Mr. Phillips, who turns 55 on Saturday, has harped on Mr. Biden's low approval ratings and age during his campaign — the president turned 81 in November.

David Simon, 67, a retired lawyer from Santa Barbara, California, who traveled to New Hampshire to volunteer for Mr. Phillips and worked for his 2018 congressional campaign, said he was under no illusions.

“It's just a moonshot, but someone had to step in and raise these issues,” he said before the event in Manchester, the first of two with Mr Yang.

After Mr.'s second event. Phillips on Thursday, in Hanover, N.H., Xavier Laack, 19, a Dartmouth College student from Rochester, Minn., said he hoped Mr. Phillips could pull off a victory in the primaries, although he acknowledged that the chances were slim. The event was the second Phillips campaign event Mr. Laack attended, and he said the turnout was larger.

“Last time I thought, 'I have to be realistic, he's not going to win,' but this time it's more promising,” he said. “But he still probably won't win.”

Mr. Laack persuaded three classmates to come along, emphasizing that they needed to hear the congressman speak before Tuesday's primaries.

That wasn't their only motivation. Martin Skacel, also a 19-year-old Dartmouth student, sat with Mr. Laack in the front row and said before the event that Mr. Yang was the main draw of the evening for him.

“I'm excited to listen to him,” Mr. Skacel said. “That got us out.”

In the cramped space in Manchester, news crews from Germany and C-SPAN captured the events, which not only focused on Mr Phillips' unlikely challenge but also included a discussion about artificial intelligence.

Ashleigh Rourke, 46, a mother of three and Democrat from Exeter, N.H., said she had tried to rally her neighbors to attend a recent event for Mr. Phillips at a bookstore, but it was a struggle.

“It's frustrating,” she said. “Our house is less than half a kilometer from the bookstore.”

Paige Leary, 55, mother of four and independent voter from Exeter, wore an 'I'm Keen on Dean' button. She said Biden had no chance of winning re-election and she had flashbacks to 2016, when she voted for Hillary Clinton.

“She was expecting a coronation, and boy were we surprised, and not in a good way,” she said.

Mr. Phillips, a longtime moderate during his three terms in the House of Representatives, raised some eyebrows when he embraced “Medicare for all,” the universal health care proposal championed by Senator Bernie Sanders.

More recently, he attracted attention when a headline on his campaign website for “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” disappeared and was replaced with “Equity and Restorative Justice.” It came after a super PAC backing him was expected to receive $1 million from William A. Ackman, the billionaire investor who has become an outspoken critic of DEI programs in higher education in recent months.

At the Hanover event, Mr. Phillips called himself “incorruptible” and accused his congressional colleagues of spending their time appeasing donors and “calling for dollars.”

“It's the most sickening form of legalized corruption I could ever imagine,” he said.

After Mr Phillips finished his speech in Hanover, students and supporters lined up for their chance to have their picture taken with him. Overhead speakers played comedian Bo Burnham's song:Biden“, an electronic beat that thumps beneath the catchy chorus: “How's the best-case scenario Joe Biden? / Are they really going to make me vote for Joe Biden?”

Mr. Phillips' message resonated with Gabriele Currier, 68, a retiree from Enfield, N.H., who plans to vote for him.

“I get quite a lot of energy from this man,” she said. 'He has such great ideas. He is articulate and I just love what he has to say. He's the guy.”

After the first meeting, a white campaign van plastered with two Phillips yard signs was provided to take news media members from a campaign office to the second event, a practice common to much larger and well-financed campaigns.

Three people got into the car opposite Mr. Phillips in Manchester, where a handwritten note on the front door listed office hours and a contact number for the campaign. One bore a campaign button. A second was identified by the campaign as a correspondent for a newspaper in Spain.

Then there was Link Lauren, 25, who described himself in an interview Friday as a Dallas-based TikTok journalist and graduate of New York University. Are TikTok pagewhich has over 400,000 followers, has videos in which he stars Vivek Ramaswamy and Robert Kennedy Jr. interviews.

He said he contacted the Phillips campaign to let them know he was in New Hampshire, and then he got an invitation to ride in the media van.

“I think the reason they had the van was because of me,” he said. “I didn't rent a car.”