Federal judge rejects attempt to place Dean Phillips on Florida primary ballot

TALLAHASSEE, Florida — A federal judge on Friday rejected a bid to require Florida Democrats to hold a presidential primary in March.

Florida’s Democratic primary was scuttled because President Joe Biden was the lone candidate certified to state election officials. It was a decision that rankled other Democrats, including Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) who is challenging Biden and called it “intentional disenfranchisement.”

A Tampa attorney challenged the decision and asked U.S. District Court Judge Allen Winsor to force the state to hold a primary that would feature Biden and Phillips as well as spiritual author Marianne Williamson and progressive Cenk Uygur.

Michael Steinberg argued that the party actions were unconstitutional and compared them to past laws that allowed state parties to limit participation based on discriminatory factors such as race.

Winsor, who held a hearing on the case on Jan. 10, disagreed.

On Friday, Winsor denied Steinberg’s request for a preliminary injunction, ruling that the attorney likely wouldn’t succeed with the case on its merits.

Steinberg, who pursued his lawsuit on his own and is not affiliated with any campaign, is expected to appeal the decision. After an hourlong hearing earlier this week on his lawsuit Steinberg, said he would push to take the case all the way to the Supreme Court if the high court agrees to take it up.

“It’s an issue that could be subject to repetition in 2028, and you could have the issue come up again,” Steinberg said. “This is more of a matter of principle of saying that Democrats should be democratic.”

Under Florida law, it’s up to state parties to determine which candidates will appear on the presidential primary ballot.

Phillips launched his long-shot bid for the presidency in late October. Days later, the Florida Democratic Party held its annual convention in Orlando, where the state executive committee voted unanimously to submit only Biden’s name to Florida election officials — a move that effectively canceled the Democratic primary.

The party action did not receive much attention until right before the Nov. 30 deadline for parties to turn in primary candidates.

Florida’s primary is held March 19, which puts it in line behind Super Tuesday and several other large states such as California and Texas. It is expected to allocate 250 delegates.