Prediction Didn’t hold up AI assessment confidence: 90% certainty 3/5 debate potential 2/5

Phillips: Campaign needs $5 million just to get on primary ballots

Dean Phillips · In conversation with Dean Phillips · Nov 17, 2023 · at 27:08

Dean Phillips shares details on his initial three-person staff and financial needs for navigating primary ballot access in his 2024 presidential run.

0:00 / 0:16exact quote · 16.5s

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“And we would need it, we would need a, well, we're going to have to raise probably six, maybe, I'm sorry, maybe, maybe, maybe less than that, maybe five million dollars. We have a staff of three people right now, and legal counsel, just to get my name on a primary ballot.”

quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →

The claim, plainly

The Dean Phillips presidential campaign expects to need around $5 million to cover legal counsel and petition logistics just to secure ballot access across primary states.

a quote alone can be ambiguous, so this restates it with the references and context of the conversation around it resolved. AI-written; the tape below the player is the source.

Assessment

Dean Phillips claimed his campaign would need around $5 million specifically for legal counsel and petition logistics to secure ballot access across primary states. FEC filings for DEAN 24, INC. show that total expenditures across the entire campaign lifecycle for all operations combined—including advertising, payroll, polling, travel, legal counsel, and ballot access—were $7,665,633.17. Expenditures specifically spent on petition gathering, legal counsel, and ballot access totaled substantially less than $5 million, making the statement materially inaccurate.

FEC filings for DEAN 24, INC. (C00854778) show total campaign expenditures across all operating categories were $7,665,633.17.
Specific documented disbursements for ballot access petition gathering and legal fees represented only a fraction of overall campaign spending, well below the $5 million threshold.

Checked against

[1] fec.gov [2] fec.gov [3] wikipedia.org [4] fec.gov [5] cityandstateny.com [6] denvergazette.com [7] osu.edu

"DEAN 24, INC." "ballot access" OR "legal" OR "petition" site:fec.gov "DEAN 24, INC." FEC financial summary "2023-2024" total disbursements "DEAN 24" OR "DEAN PHILLIPS FOR PRESIDENT" FEC expenditures "ballot access" OR "legal" OR "petition" "Dean Phillips for President" FEC expenditures legal ballot access petition "DEAN 24, INC." legal fees petition signature ballot access expenditures FEC "Dean Phillips for President" FEC total spent campaign finance filings "DEAN 24, INC." disbursement purpose legal counsel ballot access petition

assessed as of 2026-07-31

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Dean Phillips

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