Kare11
Phillips expects a decent showing in New Hampshire primary
Dean Phillips faces a vigorous write-in campaign from supporters of President Biden, who isn’t on the ballot.
MANCHESTER, N.H. — Congressman Dean Phillips is keeping up a hectic pace here in the Granite State ahead of Tuesday’s primary.
He’s been saying he’d be happy just to finish in the 20 percent range, considering he just started his campaign in late October and is relatively unknown on the national stage.
At a meet-and-greet event in Rochester, N.H. Sunday, Rep. Phillips called out President Joe Biden for not competing in the Democratic primary in this state.
“I think if you run for president you should show up, face the voters, walk through the snow and see the press and answer questions and do debates and do townhalls,” Phillips told a room for of supporters. “I mean it ain’t rocket science my friends.”
President Biden didn’t register as a candidate in New Hampshire, in deference to the Democratic National Committee’s decision to make South Carolina the first primary state. That is scheduled for Feb. 3.
But there’s a vigorous write-in campaign here for Biden. Protesters have shown up outside Phillips events chanting, “Write in Biden!” At one such encounter Saturday, Rep. Phillips showed up with a box of coffee offering a cup to the Biden supporters.
In the latest CNN University of New Hampshire poll, 63% of Democrats said they’d write in Biden’s name Tuesday, while 10% said they would support Phillips.
But in New Hampshire, the independents, known as undeclared voters, can take part in either the Republican or Democratic primary. That’s why both Phillips and Republican Nikki Haley are working to reel in support from that pool of swing voters.
“Something tells me 70% of the country doesn’t want a Trump-Biden rematch,” Phillips told supporters Sunday. “I think maybe a Phillips-Haley match could be pretty good.”
A different opinion poll released Sunday, by Polling USA, had Biden at 54% versus Phillips at 32% and Marianne Williamson at 3%.
While Phillips was working the crowd in Rochester Sunday, Andrew Yang was playing surrogate in Manchester. Yang, who ran for president as a Democrat in 2020, recently endorsed Phillips for the White House.
Yang walked from business to business in downtown Manchester trying to drum up support for the Phillips’ intraparty challenge to the incumbent president.
“Historically, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton got 81 to 84% of the vote here in New Hampshire as incumbents,” Yang told KARE. “So, if Joe ends up way lower than that there’s a lot of explaining to do.”
Yang became disaffected with the Democratic Party last year, and Phillips appears to be headed in the same direction. Phillips has complained that he’s been virtually disowned by his fellow Democrats for running against Biden, out of concern that Biden can’t win a rematch with former President Donald Trump.
Phillips in 2018 flipped Minnesota’s 3rd Congressional District from red to blue, after nearly 60 years of Republican dominance. Before running for Congress, Phillips donated heavily to Democratic candidates and causes.
WATCH MORE ON KARE 11+
Download the free KARE 11+ app for Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV and other smart TV platforms to watch more from KARE 11 anytime! The KARE 11+ app includes live streams of all of KARE 11’s newscasts. You’ll also find on-demand replays of newscasts; the latest from KARE 11 Investigates, Breaking the News and the Land of 10,000 Stories; exclusive programs like Verify and HeartThreads; and Minnesota sports talk from our partners at Locked On Minnesota.
Watch the latest local news from the Twin Cities and across Minnesota in our YouTube playlist:
“This Valentine’s Day, 2025, will mark the five-year anniversary of the premiere of ‘Love is Blind,” Vanessa said on the Season 7 finale. “And, it is gonna be the launch of Season 8, which takes place in Minneapolis.”
The episode also revealed three of the new cast members, one of whom, “Alex,” told Lachey Minneapolis is “not like a major city, but it’s also not a small town,” which he said is just one of the obstacles in his way of finding the one.
“I just never found the right person that clicked for me,” he said.
Meantime, you can bone up on Seasons 1-7 streaming now on Netflix.
MINNEAPOLIS — How much do you know about your grandma’s upbringing?
“The Stories From My Grandmother’s Hands” is a book that aims to show young Black children how their grandmas lived through beautiful illustrations and descriptions.
KARE 11 News at Noon shared more on Thursday about the impact that this book will have.
Gary Peterson and his friends are collecting donations to help people in their community.
ST. LOUIS PARK, Minn. — A St. Louis Park pumpkin display is raising money for their local food shelf.
Gary Peterson started carving and painting three pumpkins over a decade ago. It’s now grown to over 100.
“I’ve heard people say they’ve come from Hutchinson,” he said.
Peterson along with two of his neighbors have spent the last 14 years growing their display, turning it into a neighborhood event.
“It’s been incredible, I just can’t believe how much this has expanded,” he said. “We did it just because we like to and then people were asking to give us money to cover the cost.”
The trio refused to take people’s money, but then one of them had an idea.
“My neighbor, Steve Leensvaart, just mentioned how about we just do it for the STEP program and the STEP program is our local food shelf in St. Louis Park,” he said.
So, they started to collect donations to help families in need. They’ve raised hundreds of dollars and donated hundreds of pounds of food over the last few years, carving for a cause.
“It is more gratifying every year,” Peterson said.
He estimated they have over 100 unique pumpkins in their yard. They’ve created the displays and come up with new family-friendly concepts for people to enjoy. Peterson said about 30 of their neighbors carved their own pumpkins to be put on display, and it’s been a big hit.
“It’s great. In the last couple of years, it’s turned into more of a neighborhood event,” said Sarah Durch.
“We love this Halloween display, we come every year to see it. We love that the whole community gets involved to craft and carve the pumpkins,” said Jami Gordon-Smith.
“The shading and the details are unbelievable,” said Elizabeth Hanson.
Hanson hopes to take her 2-year-old son trick or treating for the first time but is worried the cold temperatures might keep them indoors.
“We’re going trick or treating hopefully,” she said. “He’s going to be a firefighter, but we’re probably going to have sweatshirts maybe like two pairs of sweatpants underneath. We’re going to be bundled up.”
Gordon-Smith said her family will be out Halloween night no matter the weather.
“Halloween only comes once a year, so you really have to take advantage and enjoy the evening no matter what the weather brings,” she said. “Guess it’s not totally unheard of in Minnesota to have a cold Halloween, but we are going to try and modify and do a lot of layers underneath our costumes and then we might add some hats and maybe some warmer socks.”
Durch also isn’t surprised they’re in for another chilly night.
“Well, what would Halloween be without Minnesota cold? I feel like every time you plan a costume you have to plan for how you can make this work if it’s snowing,” she said.
Peterson said they will have a bonfire and some hot chocolate and cider on Halloween to keep trick-or-treaters warm while they look at their pumpkins.
Click here to learn where you can see the pumpkins and how you can donate.
