To politics now because we're learning late tonight that Minnesota Congressman Dean Phillips, who's on this kind of long shot campaign to try to be President Biden in a primary, well, he will not run for re election the Congressman, no matter how this primary shakes out. Phillips is announcing his decision in a statement today saying it's time to pass the torch, going on to say that no party has a monopoly on solutions. NBC News Capitol Hill correspondent Ali Vitali is covering this late breaking story. She's joining us now. We said long shot, Allie, and we said it because that's what the numbers show. You look at our latest polling shows support for him among primary voters on the Dem side at just 4%, right Marion Williamson outpaces him in the polls, at least right now. Talk to me about how you see the political landscape here and importantly, how the White House, how the Biden campaign sees it.

Look, this was going to be a long shot. We knew that when Phillips first toyed with the idea of challenging Biden, and now it remains that way even as he's made his candidacy official. In terms of his leaving Congress, though not entirely surprising. When he first announced his presidential bid, I had lawmakers literally texting me the shruggy emoji halle. Because they just didn't quite understand why Phillips thought he should be the one to take on a sitting and incumbent president, especially not from his own party. But for Phillips, he feels that this is a moment where a new generation at least, needs to challenge what he sees as the status quo. It's why I can't read his retirement statement about passing the torch without thinking about how he might mean it to apply to what he is doing right now. That's also a phrase passing the torch and passing the baton that in 2020. We used to talk about a lot with then candidate, now President Biden, would he be someone who ushers in the next generation of Democratic leaders? Clearly in his retirement, philip's trying to hit on all of these different angles, but in terms of his retirement, not entirely shocking.

And frankly, he joins a slew of other lawmakers who are doing it on the Democratic and Republican side. A real drain of people leaving Congress lately.

You look at independent voters who are important in a place like New Hampshire, which as we know, is going to hold its primary mid to end of January here. What do you hear from contexts you're talking to about any kind of Phillips factor, maybe specifically in that state?

To the extent that there can be a Phillips factor, you'd look at it in a place like New Hampshire because of the way that independent voters can function within that electorate. You can watch people kind of tip scales either way. But again, when he's polling at 4%, this is a real long shot. I don't think there's going to be any kind of significant dent. I think the more interesting thing is the ways that the Biden White House, along with the Democratic National Committee, have sought to actually change the calendar and push New Hampshire out of its early position. That's the thing that could be more awkward here for Biden in his quest for the nomination than it is for Phillips running in this long shot space that he's in. I think the thing that's important for us to remember as we chart not just Phillips, but people like Marianne Williamson, and then you even extend your lens or broaden out your lens and start thinking about the way that third party candidates like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Potentially someone else. Maybe Joe manchin These are names that we hear floated around, though Manchin certainly has not made anything official.

It doesn't necessarily matter in the primaries, but when you're playing a game of margins and tight inches in all of these states, like Michigan and Wisconsin, all the ones that we stay up late on election night watching, that's when it becomes important. And Phillips could be someone that lends to the idea that Biden is not up to the task and that could hurt down the road, if not immediately in the primaries.

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