TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Should Florida Democrats put more than just President Joe Biden on Florida’s primary ballot, including U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips"? The state party doesn’t think so, but it’s now a question for a federal judge after a new legal challenge.
The lawsuit was filed last week, and first reported by the Florida Phoenix, in the state’s Northern District by Florida attorney Michael Steinberg who’s unsuccessfully run for various offices in the past. He thinks the Florida Democratic Party violated equal protection and due process rights in the U.S. Constitution when it voted to advance only the current president’s name for next year’s Presidential Preference ballot.
Steinberg wants to force state election officials to add a fellow Democrat, Phillips of Minnesota, to the ballot. His complaint says without Phillips, "a grave inequity would result because only President Joseph Biden would have gained access to the ballot by unconstitutional means."
Phillips isn’t a party in the lawsuit but has criticized Florida Democrats for their decision with online posts like this one.
"I’m running for president," Phillips said in the X post. “There are others running for president as Democrats. This is the kind of stuff that happens in Tehran— not Tallahassee."”
Phillips' presidential campaign declined to comment on the litigation, but told Scripps News it will be filing its own challenge later this week.
In a statement, Florida Democrats said Monday they stand by their decision to advance Biden after following longstanding party bylaws.
"The Florida Democratic Party followed its process and the State Executive Committee voted unanimously to send one name, Joe Biden, to the Secretary of State as a candidate for the party’s nomination for president," a spokesperson for the FDP said. "It is not uncommon for an incumbent president to be declared the automatic winner of a presidential primary. In 2011, Florida Democrats similarly voted unanimously for incumbent President Barack Obama."
The 218-member State Executive Committee voted unanimously to only advance Biden on Oc. 29, though that was more than 30 days before its state deadline and four days after Phillips announced his bid.
"Joe Biden is the President of the United States," FDP leader Nikki Fried said during a Dec.1 interview with Sscripps News. "He is running for re-elect — he is our incumbent."
Much like the party’s most recent statement, she maintained that FDP’s typical process was followed.
"We followed our rules and procedures that are well laid out," Fried said. "The people of our party have the right and the responsibility to make that ultimate decision and they did."
Federal District Judge Allen Winsor, a Dona'd Trump appointee, is now planning to hold a telephonic hearing Thursday to determine a timeline for the lawsuit — but "not the substance of Plaintiff’s preliminary injunction motion."