Minnesota Democratic Rep. Dean Phillips is jumping into the White House race, launching a long-shot presidential primary challenge against President Biden for the party’s 2024 nomination.”I am excited to announce my candidacy for president in 2024. It’s time to put our country back together again – and use our differences to make us stronger. It’s time to repair America,” Phillips said in a launch video posted on social media on Thursday evening.Phillips will formally declare his candidacy Friday in New Hampshire, the state that holds the first primary in the presidential nominating calendar.While the 54-year-old millionaire businessman and co-founder of a gelato company turned three-term member of Congress may be a familiar face in his congressional district in suburban Minneapolis, he is virtually unknown to most Americans.PHILLIPS JUMPS INTO 2024 WHITE HOUSE RACE WITH STEEP UPHILL PRIMARY BID AGANST PRESIDENT BIDEN Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., is seen outside the House Democratic Caucus leadership election in Longworth Building on Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2022. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)Here are five things to know about Dean Phillips.1) Phillips is a Gold Star son Phillips was just six months old when his father, Artie Pfefer, was killed in action in the Vietnam War in 1969.Phillips and his mother, who was 24-years-old at the time, moved in with his great-grandparents, where he spent the next three years of his life.2) He’s an heir to a distilling fortuneIn 1972, Phillips mother married Eddie Phillips, and Dean Phillips became an adopted heir of Phillips Distilling Company, the family business known for producing the country’s first brand of schnapps.Phillips joined the company two decades later as a young adult. He soon made his mark when the company purchased the importing rights in the U.S. for the popular Belvedere brand of vodka. He later ran the family business for a dozen years.BIDEN BREAKS CENTURY OLD TRADITION AS HE FORGOES FILING FOR THE PRIMARY IN THIS STATE3) Phillips helped build the Talenti gelato brand After the passing of his adoptive father, Phillips left the family distilling company to join a small gelato business in which his father had invested. Along with his new partners, Phillips built Talenti into one of America’s most popular and successful gelato brands. Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., who launched a 2024 Democratic presidential primary challenge against President Biden, speaks at a news conference in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 21, 2020. (REUTERS/Ken Cedeno)4) He flipped a red seat blueAs a first-time politician, Phillips defeated six-term Republican Rep. Erik Paulsen in 2018 during a blue wave election in which the Democrats won back the House majority.Phillips became the first Democrat to win the Minnesota seat in nearly six decades. He comfortably won re-election in 2020 and again last year.CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP President Biden and Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn. (Getty Images)5) Phillips is one of the wealthiest members of CongressWhen he first ran for the House in 2018, Phillips disclosed $77 million in assets. His net worth is now estimated at over $120 million, making him one of the wealthiest members of Congress.Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub. Paul Steinhauser is a politics reporter based in New Hampshire.
