Wisconsin Supreme Court rules state must allow Dean Phillips on primary ballot

The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Friday ordered election officials to include presidential hopeful Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) on the state’s Democratic primary ballot.

The unanimous ruling claimed Democrats on the bipartisan presidential selection committee should have held a discussion about including Phillips. The court’s decision means the long-shot candidate will appear on the April 2 primary ballot against President Biden, The Associated Press reported.

Phillips, who launched his bid against Biden in October, has vowed to file challenges in several states that left him off the ballot.

In December, Phillips said he would challenge the Democratic National Committee and several states — including Florida, North Carolina and Tennessee — for leaving him, and other Democratic candidates, off the ballots.

He filed a lawsuit on Jan. 26 with the Wisconsin Elections Commission, demanding they add his name after he was excluded following a Jan. 2 meeting, the AP reported.

Phillips argued that he met the criteria in the state for ballot access, which states that a candidate must be “generally advocated or recognized in the national news media.”

The Friday ruling accused the committee of failing to properly exercise any discretion under state law with respect to the Minnesota lawmaker, per the AP.

Phillips, author Marianne Williamson and “The Young Turks” host Cenk Uygur, have all pushed back against states’ refusing to include them on the primary ballots.

Despite Biden not being on the ballot in New Hampshire, he earned nearly 64 percent support among voters in the first contest of the election. Phillips received 19.6 percent support in the state, according to election results from Decision Desk HQ.

Although he once said he would step away from the race by March 5 if he didn’t gain traction, Phillips now said he will stay in the race “as long as it takes” to have a match-up with former President Trump.