Joe Biden won the Michigan primary on Tuesday – as a plea for “uncommitted” generated thousands of votes as a warning sign to the president over the war in Gaza.
Biden led with nearly 80 percent of the vote in the early results Tuesday evening. But “uncommitted” stood at 15 percent, with more than 25,000 votes and counting. That was already more than the bar that activists had set for themselves. That yielded about 16 percent of the votes.
The Associated Press immediately called the race for Biden after the last polls closed Tuesday at 9 p.m.
Biden faced token opposition in the vote from Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips, but his real battle was against ‘uncommitted’ and against himself. Biden has faced criticism in the state for his handling of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, and many Arab-American voters in Dearborn and other parts of Detroit have expressed anger over the war.
Squad member Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), a Palestinian-American, has pressured Biden and pushed the “uncommitted” effort.
A group of activists organizing a plea for “uncommitted” treated the results as grounds for a victory rally Tuesday night, packing the Adonis restaurant next to the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, which featured food, music and declarations of victory — together with statements about the growing toll of the war in Gaza.
“Here in southeastern Michigan, people in our Arab-American community have a gruesome expertise. Many of us survived U.S.-funded bombs,” Abbass Alawieh, co-organizer of “Listen to Michigan,” said at a post-election rally seen as a victory rally by “uncommitted” supporters.
‘That’s all we ask. Just stop killing our families. Actually, it’s not all that complicated. Just stop killing our families, President Biden. You can do it,” he said.
Layla Elabed, another organizer, said volunteers have made 1 million voter calls as part of the effort.
There was little doubt that President Biden would win the Democratic primary in Michigan. Activists have pushed for a ‘non-committed’ vote on Israel’s war in Gaza
Rashida Tlaib’s sister Elabed called on Biden to “establish a permanent ceasefire and end unchecked, unconditional military aid that is financing a 2024 genocide,” she told “uncommitted” supporters as the votes came in.
She said activists told the U.S. government “that funding endless wars is not the way to go, but there is a better way that saves the children who are being killed… That gives the hostages and prisoners a return.” There is a better path of diplomacy and peace and not genocide.”
“This is not a messaging problem. This has become a bomb problem,” said “Listen to Michigan organizer Lexis Zeidan.
“We won a huge victory tonight,” former Rep. Andy Levin told the crowd. “This is a victory for American democracy tonight,” he added.
“Our message to the president is clear. There’s no time to lose. We need a permanent ceasefire now,” he said.
“It is not lost on me that this president has softened his language and begun to acknowledge Palestinian suffering,” Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud said. “But what isn’t enough is lip service. What we need is a complete withdrawal of support for the most radical and tyrannical government in Israel’s history.”
“I was proud to walk in today and pull a Democratic ballot and vote uncommitted,” Tlaib said in a speech video she posted Tuesday afternoon.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) cast her vote for “uncommitted” rather than for President Joe Biden as she accused the U.S. of aiding “genocide” against the Palestinians. She posted a video after voting
Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud blasted Biden for commenting on the latest ceasefire talks Monday while the president ate an ice cream cone.
‘I don’t like lip service or words. I am looking for action,” he told DailyMail.com outside a polling station.
Khalid Turaani, co-founder of the ‘Abandon Biden’ movement, predicted that thousands of people would vote for ‘uncommitted’.
“I guess I find it strange that you’re sitting in a parlor eating ice cream — that’s when you talk about a ceasefire coming up,” said Mayor Abdullah Hammoud of Dearborn, Michigan.
President Joe Biden discussed talks for a temporary ceasefire Monday while having ice cream with “Late Night” host Seth Meyers in New York
Biden faced demands for a permanent ceasefire and a push to vote ‘uncommitted’
Dearborn has a high percentage of Arab-American and Muslim voters
“I think 10,000 is reasonable and I think we will get there,” he told DailyMail.com as he handed out sample ballots marked “not recorded.”
Of the first six people he spoke to, in English and Arabic outside a polling station, “only one person did not say he would not vote without obligation. He wasn’t talkative.’
Ten thousand is about the number by which Biden defeated Donald Trump in 2020, demonstrating the influence Arab-American voters could have on the November election.
It’s the song that activist group ‘Listen to Michigan’ has identified as its target.
But “uncommitted” has produced bigger numbers in the recent Democratic presidential primaries.
Uncomshed received about 20,000 against President Barack Obama in 2012, and a similar amount when Hillary Clinton fought Bernie Sanders in 2016 and four years later when Sanders challenged Biden.
State party leaders are not publicly panicking. The Biden campaign organized a press call just as most polling places in the state were closing to reassure the media.
Members of Michigan’s Democratic state party ‘know how to beat Donald Trump. We’ve done it before and we’ll do it again,” state chairwoman Lavora Barnes told reporters.
Former Michigan Rep. Andy Levin, a leader in the push for “disengagement,” said he doesn’t want Donald “ever anywhere near the White House again.”
But he told DailyMail.com at an “uncommitted” watch party that Biden’s problems are much more than tactical, after the president was criticized for not meeting Arab-American leaders during his visit here as resentment grew.
“It’s not because they didn’t come early enough or didn’t do enough… This is not a political problem. He can’t solve it with really good surrogates.’
He said Biden or any other Democrat “isn’t going to win without Michigan,” and that “Joe Biden can’t win Michigan without changing course.”
