The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled on Friday Rap Dean Phillips He will appear on the Democratic primary ballot if he meets the candidate eligibility standard.
“We therefore direct that the name of Dean Phillips be placed on the 2024 Democratic presidential primary ballot as a candidate for President of the United States,” the court said in its Friday opinion.
The decision means that the president will have Joe Biden Democratic challenger in the state’s April 2 primary.
Phillips, D-Minn., noted the ruling Send to X“Thankfully, democracy is protected by the court, because our political parties are eroding it before our eyes,” he said.
“I will continue to expose the truth and speak loudly for the quiet side,” he said.
The Biden campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The court wrote that the committee that determines which candidates appear on the party’s ballot “is empowered to determine whether a particular candidate meets that standard,” such as being “publicly advocated or recognized in the national news media.”
Phillips argued last week that he met media standards and should have been allowed on the ballot.
The court noted that the committee had “no discussion of Phillips or any other Democratic presidential primary,” noting that the committee’s meeting on names for the ballot “lasted just over five minutes.”
The court added that ordinarily it would have brought the matter before the state’s Presidential Election Commission and instructed the panel to “properly exercise its discretion,” but decided there was not enough time before the primary, so it chose Phillips. is put on the ballot.
The Phillips campaign often spoke out against what it called “suppression tactics by Biden and his allies,” arguing that Phillips was improperly kept off the primary ballot in many states.
“We are fighting to give voters a choice this election cycle — something that Democratic leadership across the country must embrace if they truly value a democratic election,” Phillips said in a statement Friday.
Polling The president has strong support from his party, while a November NBC News poll found Phillips supported by only 4% of national Democratic primary voters.
Biden won New Hampshire Elementary with about 65% of the vote, despite not being listed on the ballot. Phillips received about 20% of the vote.