Billionaire Bill Ackman Vows to Pour $1M Into Making Dean Phillips Dem Nominee

Billionaire Bill Ackman announced late Saturday that he’s backing longshot candidate Dean Phillips in the 2024 presidential election—and he’s putting down $1 million to help Phillips beat Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination.

“This is not a joke, I am totally serious,” Ackman noted in announcing his decision on X.

The hedge fund manager dropped the bombshell news shortly after a new poll showed Donald Trump holding a wide lead in Iowa against his two Republican rivals, less than two days before Monday’s caucuses. Trump was polling at 48 percent, with former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley at 20 percent and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at 16 percent, according to the Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom poll.

“Biden is polling poorly against @realDonaldTrump, and his numbers are only going to get worse as he ages, and he is not looking good as it is. There is also a reasonable chance that Biden is forced to withdraw for health reasons,” Ackman wrote.

“As Dean rises in the polls and Biden deteriorates, the Democratic party is going to have to choose a candidate that can beat the Republican nominee,” he said.

“This is how democracy happens. It is tragedy if our only choices are Trump and Biden. It is up to us,” he said, urging followers to “take a hard look” at Phillips.

Phillips, who earlier this week failed to attract a single potential voter to a campaign event in Manchester—and then quipped that “sometimes if you build it, they don’t come”—“is an extremely charismatic and appealing leader,” Ackman gushed. “Dean is someone that Republicans will respect and can vote for once they get to know him. He is committed to a bipartisan cabinet, and has the best shot of any of the candidates, in my opinion, to bring the country together.”

Noting that Phillips has “limited nationwide name recognition,” the Pershing Square CEO said he’s nonetheless willing to put down $1 million to help put the Minnesota congressman “on the map.”

“On Tuesday, I am wiring $1 million to http://wedeserve.org, a political action committee that supports Dean’s run,” he said. “I am doing so because I believe that Dean Phillips would be a truly outstanding president of the United States, and I believe he has a credible path to winning the nomination despite what the oddsmakers may think.”