Billionaire Ackman Throws Weight Behind Longshot Democrat Dean Phillips: Here’s Who Else Supports Him

Topline Longshot Democratic presidential candidate Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn. ) rallied support this week from billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman , who donated $1 million to a political action committee supporting the Biden challenger, joining a group of major donors supporting the Minnesota Democrat as President Joe Biden’s polling struggle against former President Donald Trump wears on.

Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn. ), a longshot Democratic presidential candidate, loaned his campaign $2 .

. . [+] million in November, but has since attracted support elsewhere.

Key Facts Ackman, the founder and CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management, threw his weight behind Phillips in a tweet Saturday, saying he donated $1 million to the Phillips-backing We Deserve Better PAC, as well as at an X Spaces forum , where Ackman said there has “got to be grave concern” over Biden’s polling performance “as his health and cognitive health obviously deteriorate. ” Ackman—who stirred controversy in recent weeks for criticizing recently ousted Harvard president Claudine Gay over plagiarism claims before coming to the defense of his wife Neri Oxman amid plagiarism accusations—praised Phillips in a follow-up post , saying if the Democratic Party “wants to have a chance” against Trump in the upcoming presidential election, then “it needs to quickly get behind a strong, credible contender. ” In the X Spaces forum, which also included billionaire X owner Elon Musk, Phillips floated the idea of cabinet positions for Ackman, Musk and angel investor and podcast host Jason Calacanis, with Phillips saying that if elected he would nominate the “best, the most extraordinary bipartisan cabinet in American history” that could include people “on this Spaces right now.

” Though Musk did not formally endorse him, he lamented Phillips’ exclusion from the Florida and North Carolina Democratic primary ballots, saying in the Spaces forum that he is opposed to “anything that undermines the democratic process,” and that “getting viable candidates removed from ballots” is “fundamentally anti-democratic. ” Mike Novogratz, the Galaxy Investment Partners CEO who donated to Biden’s 2020 campaign, hosted a campaign fundraiser for Phillips, a source familiar with the matter told Bloomberg last month, while Novogratz told CNBC he considered Biden and former President Donald Trump, the GOP frontrunner, too old to be president. In New Hampshire, where a recent poll found 54-year-old Phillips down 30 points to Biden in the state’s primary, the Minnesota Democrat has also garnered the support of former state House Speaker Steve Shurtleff , who had co-chaired Biden’s 2020 campaign in New Hampshire.

Tangent Comedian Bill Maher has also lauded Phillips but stopped short of a full endorsement. “You know what I know about him? He’s 54 and he’s got a ‘D’ next to his name,” Maher said after Phillips entered the race “And he doesn’t have any of the baggage of the other guys. ” Phillips appeared as a guest on the Nov.

3 episode of “Real Time with Bill Maher. ” Key Background Phillips launched his longshot bid as a Democrat in October, six months after Biden announced his reelection campaign, joining author Marianne Williamson in challenging Biden in the 2024 Democratic primaries. One week after announcing his campaign, Phillips—the former co-owner of Gelato brand Talenti—told Reuters he would loan his campaign $2 million, calling the loan his “intentional max.

” While Phillips has failed to come close to Biden’s commanding lead in a string of primary polls, he appears to be inching up in New Hampshire, with one week remaining before the state’s primary (Biden is not appearing on the New Hampshire ballot after the state defied the Democratic National Committee by maintaining its first-in-the-nation primary status for Democrats—the election will be unsanctioned). A poll released Tuesday by the American Research Group found Phillips down 30 points to Biden in New Hampshire, with support from 28% of likely Democrats—though an Emerson College poll in New Hampshire conducted last week found Phillips slightly further behind, with 16% of voters backing him, behind 49% for Biden. Those polls come as Biden, 81, faces repeated questions over his age and a series of recent public gaffes .

Trump regularly mocks Biden, including for stumbling in multiple public appearances. Biden is also trailing Trump in most polls of a hypothetical 2020 rematch, with a recent Emerson College poll showing Biden down two points (47% to 45%) to Trump in a head-to-head matchup, while a Quinnipiac University poll found Biden down three points (49% to 46%). Contra Biden is dominating in national Democratic primary polling, with the support of 81% of voters, according to a Morning Consult poll conducted between Dec.

22 and Dec. 24. Phillips received a meager 1% of supporters in that poll.

What To Watch For Phillips has not yet made an official Federal Elections Commission filing listing his campaign donors. The first filing is due Jan. 31.

Forbes Valuation We estimate Ackman to be worth $4 billion , making him the 725th-wealthiest person in the world. Further Reading Trump Breezes To Victory In Iowa Caucuses Amid Lower Voter Turnout (Forbes) Ramaswamy Drops Out Of 2024 Presidential Race After Iowa—Here’s Who Could Pick Up His Supporters (Forbes).