Uncommitted in Michigan.
It wasn't a good night for Biden (or Trump).
Tuesday was not good day for President Biden’s campaign for his party’s nomination.
As an incumbent president with only token opposition it was planned by the DNC to be an easy pathway to another run against Trump.
And although he did win the Democratic primary, I’m betting that his re-election team is having some serious discussions this morning.
Or they are fools.
"This is the way you can raise our voices," Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian-American in Congress, said in a video standing outside an early voting site in Dearborn, Michigan.
"Right now, we feel completely neglected and just unseen by our government. If you want us to be louder, then come here and vote uncommitted.”
And yesterday over 100,000 Michigan Democrats did just that.
Tlaib whose district includes parts of Detroit and surrounding communities, joined forces with Arab American activists who were also urging Michigan Democrats to vote "uncommitted" to send a message:
End the U.S. support for the Israeli genocide in Gaza and implement an immediate and permanent ceasefire.
Dearborn, Mich., outside of Detroit, boasts an Arab-American community that has grown to make up a majority of the city's population. Many residents there say they feel abandoned by Biden because of his backing of Israel's war, which has killed more than 30,000 Palestinian civilians.
While uncommitted is always on the Michigan ballot in a presidential primary, the option usually gets around 20,000 votes.
A huge number of uncommitted votes were also in Ann Arbor where the University of Michigan is located.
Last night cable news pundits argued over whether the uncommitted votes would “come home” in November.
But Biden would need every one of them in a purple state like Michigan. It is unlikely that Biden could get re-elected without Michigan.
Trump won in 2016 by around ten thousand votes and Biden won in 2020 by the same number that voted uncommitted last night.
Meanwhile Trump has his own troubles in Michigan where, even though his win against Nikki Haley was never in doubt, around 30% of Michigan Republican voters showed up to vote against him anyway.
The movement is now likely to spread to other states, many of which have an option for voters to choose “uncommitted” or “no preference” in their primaries. Listen to Michigan, the group that kicked off the state’s protest vote, is holding an organizing call for supporters in Minnesota, which votes next week, and Washington State, which holds its primary on March 12.
Illinois’ primary early voting begins next week and concludes on March 19th.
Although Illinois doesn’t have an “uncommitted” option, I plan to write in #ceasefire and will not vote for the Biden-committed delegates on my ballot.
Friday I will be joining my brother Mike Klonsky on the radio to talk about the Michigan primary, the genocidal war on Gaza and other hot topics. You can hear us by tuning in to Hitting Left on Lumpen Radio at 11am CST, 105.5fm or streaming anywhere on Lumpenradio.com. You can hear the podcast version on most podcast hosting sites or hittingleft.libsyn.com
