More than 100,000 Democrats voted “uncommitted” in Tuesday’s Michigan primary after a campaign by Arab Americans and progressives calling for President Joe Biden to call for an unconditional ceasefire in Gaza.
Biden got more than 617,000 votes, or 81%, easily winning the primary but the number of uncommitted votes rose to more than 100,000, or 13%, with 98% of expected votes reported.
ABC News’ Jay O’Brien noted that campaigners set low expectations, hoping for just 10,000 “uncommitted” votes in the primary even though more than 20,000 Michigan Democrats voted “uncommitted” in 2012 when President Barack Obama ran for re-election.
"Point being, this is something the Biden campaign, given the numbers tonight, is going to have to take seriously,” O’Brien said.
The uncommitted campaign had already gotten the administration’s attention, The New York Times noted, pointing to the White House deploying officials to Dearborn, Mich. to express regrets about the administration’s response to the Gaza war. Biden earlier this month called Israel’s response “over the top.” He said over the weekend that he hoped Israel and Hamas could reach a temporary ceasefire agreement by Monday.
Still, the strength of the uncommitted campaign “surprised” Biden’s campaign, the Times added, noting that the movement is now likely to spread to other states.
The White House contrition in Dearborn, where more than half of residents are Arab American, did not appear to quell criticism. “Uncommitted” beat Biden 56-40 in the city, winning 47 of the city’s 48 precincts with most of the votes counted, according to the Detroit Free Press.
“That’s a wow,” CNN’s John King exclaimed while the votes were still being counted Tuesday night.
“This is a place President Biden carried big time in 2020. This is key to his chances of defeating Donald Trump in Michigan,” he said, adding that the concentration of votes signals that Biden’s “big problem” is that “Muslim Americans who were critical, absolutely critical to his big margin in Michigan in 2020, are telling the president tonight that they are mad.”
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Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., the former co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said the number of uncommitted votes “show the problem” with Biden’s current course in Gaza.
“Time to wake up to the growing human rights concerns that many Americans have,” he tweeted. “And to recognize Netanyahu isn’t the ally some claim he is.”
The Listen to Michigan campaign said Tuesday its “movement emerged victorious tonight and massively surpassed our expectations.”
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“We don’t want a Trump presidency, but Biden has put Netanyahu ahead of American democracy. We cannot afford to pay the bill for disregarding Palestinian lives should it come due in November,” the campaign’s X/Twitter account said. “The only way to achieve freedom and justice for Palestinians surviving a genocide is through an immediate and permanent cease-fire. The only way to ensure the safe return of all hostages and prisoners is through an immediate and permanent cease-fire.”
Some Arab American voters have expressed that there is nothing Biden could do to win them back, according to the Times, but several speakers at the Listen to Michigan election night event on Tuesday suggested they would back Biden if he changed his stance on Gaza.
“We are no longer in a position to beg Democrats to listen to us,” said Gaby Santiago-Romero, a member of the Detroit City Council. “Quite frankly, none of us want Trump to win, which is exactly why we’re doing this. This is the only way we can raise a flag to Democrats that you are going to lose unless you call for an ultimate cease-fire.”
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