“She just needed to be clear about what she believes in, what she will do differently than Biden, and offer common-sense solutions to our problems. “Instead…” he added, pointing to a New York Times headline: “Major in Kamala Harris’ closing argument: Donald Trump.”

Phillips gave up his leadership post as co-chair of the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee to challenge Biden in the 2024 Democratic primary, out of concern that his party was headed for electoral defeat with the wavering 81-year-old president at the top of the ticket .

Ultimately, the Minnesota Democrat was unsuccessful in the primary but was seemingly vindicated in July when a revolt against Biden erupted within his party over dismay over his age, culminating in his exit from the race.

Phillips cheered as Harris shot to the top of the candidate list, but still publicly urged the party to have a more open process to follow in Biden’s footsteps.

Now his home state’s Democratic governor, Tim Walz, is on the ticket as Harris’ vice presidential running mate.

Since blocking the nomination, Harris has tried to make some overtures to Republican and independent voters.

She promised to appoint a Republican to her Cabinet and in recent weeks has faced Republican defections like former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.).

On Wednesday, Harris also conducted a combative interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier in which she tried to avoid doomed remarks similar to Hillary Clinton’s “basket of regrets” in 2016.

Clinton famously used the term to describe half of her then-presidential opponent Trump’s supporters.

Additionally, Harris has attempted to lurch to the center by making dramatic departures from her stance during the era of her ill-fated 2020 presidential campaign, including repealing a fracking ban, a national jobs guarantee, decriminalizing illegal border crossings, and more.

Harris appears to have resisted pressure from Democratic strategists to highlight her differences with Biden.

Earlier this month, she suggested on ABC News’ “The View” that she would have done “nothing” differently than Biden except appoint a Republican to her Cabinet.

Still, Harris emphasized in her interview with Baier that “my presidency will not be a continuation of Joe Biden’s presidency.” But she failed to provide many details.

“To be perfectly honest, even Mike Pence included, vice presidents are not critical of their presidents,” Harris later told NBC News, referring to Trump’s chatter and describing the approach as a “tradition.”

Democrats have long been deeply concerned about Trump’s chances of returning to the White House on November 5th. Harris has described herself as an “outsider” in the race, and polls appear to have tilted slightly toward Trump over the past two weeks.

Harris has a national lead of 0.8 percentage points over Trump in the latest RealClearPolitics summary of multiple candidate polls.

Trump is at the top of the RCP map of battleground states.