On Tuesday, wealthy and prominent businessman Dean Phillips became the first noteworthy Minnesota Democrat to launch a campaign against GOP Rep. Erik Paulsen in the suburban-Minneapolis 3rd District. The grandson of famous advice columnist Dear Abby, Phillips is also the heir to the locally well-known Phillips Distilling Company and previously co-owned the Talenti gelato company, while he is also heavily involved with local philanthropic efforts. Despite his personal fortune, Phillips said he wouldn’t self-fund right off the bat or take PAC money of any kind, but he also left the door open to substantial self-funding if he feels he needs to “make up the difference … from the amount [he] would have raised from special interests and lobbyists.”
Although the highly educated and affluent 3rd District favored Clinton by 51-41 in 2016, Obama carried it just 50-49 in 2012 and it has long been a Republican stronghold downballot. Paulsen decisively defeated highly touted and well-funded Democratic state Sen. Terri Bonoff by 57-43 in 2016, meaning he’ll likely be a tough target in 2018. However, Phillips says that unlike Bonoff, his campaign won’t focus mainly on tying Paulsen to Trump’s scandals, but will instead hammer the incumbent over unpopular votes he has taken like supporting the House GOP’s Obamacare repeal bill. It remains to be seen how strong of a campaigner Phillips will be, but local Democratic leaders reportedly recruited him to run.
Phillips isn’t the only Democratic name to surface though. Brian Santa Maria, a former writer for the Onion and digital ad man has been running for a while, but does not appear have gained much traction yet with his longshot campaign. Former Obama-era acting administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Andy Slavitt has excoriated Paulsen on social media for his health care vote and has been mentioned as a potential candidate. Slavitt had recently cryptically refused to rule out running via Twitter, but Roll Call reports that he is advising Phillips, which would seem to take him out of the mix. It’s unclear whether Phillips or Santa Maria will abide by the party convention process and drop out if they don’t win the party’s endorsement, or if they will proceed to the primary regardless.