How the ‘uncommitted’ effort to protest Biden has spread in Super Tuesday states

Organizers in several Super Tuesday states are calling on voters to oppose President Biden at the ballot box over his stance on the war in Israel and Gaza, building on the momentum that started in Michigan last month.

More than 101,000 Michiganders voted “uncommitted” in the state’s Democratic primary after a group of young Arab Americans launched a campaign to encourage voters to protest Biden’s alliance with Israel — prompting two delegates to the Democratic National Convention yielded.

Inspired by the campaign, pro-Palestinian groups across the country began similar efforts to push the president to call for a permanent ceasefire.

In Colorado, a group of Palestinian activists tried to mount a social media campaign for the state “non-committed delegate” option while returns from Michigan were still coming in last week. In Minnesota, organizers came knocking and held events to promote the vote the ‘non-committed’ category, helping Muslim Somali Americans and young voters. And in Massachusetts thousands of demonstrators at a meeting in Cambridge chanted “no preference,” the equivalent protest option.

The campaigns were fragmented and organized with far less time and resources than the Michigan operation. Many were scheduled within days, long after early voting had already begun, and several organizers declined to set specific benchmarks for what would constitute success on Tuesday night, beyond the goal of seeing Mr. Biden change his position. (Organizers in Minnesota said they were aiming for 5,000 “Unpledged” votes, a low target that was about double what the category received in the 2020 Democratic primaries).

The other states also lack Michigan’s position in the broader response to Mr. Biden’s policies: The state has a sizable Arab-American population, for whom the issue has been particularly painful, and ahead of the vote, prominent Democrats in the represents the potential for political danger. The “unstaffed” effort received the support of Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a member of the group of House liberals known as the Squad.

Mr. Biden is expected to win all the primary contests where activists have launched “uncommitted” efforts, including Colorado, Massachusetts and Minnesota, states he won in 2020, and North Carolina, a battleground state that Mr. Biden narrowly lost from former President Donald J. Trump. But the prospect of a close election in November means any loss of support could damage his re-election prospects.

“What we face in November is a truly dangerous candidate in Donald Trump, who will cause enormous damage to our communities, and poses a real existential threat to our democracy – that is real and we see it,” says Elianne Farhat, one of the organizers with Uncommitted Minnesota. “But right now we’re focused on sending a message to President Biden, who is currently in control.”

The Biden administration has become more forceful in recent weeks in pushing Israel and Hamas, which attacked Israel on Oct. 7, to agree to a pause in fighting and more aid to Gaza.

The United States on Saturday airlifted 38,000 meals to the region, which is facing a humanitarian crisis. Vice President Kamala Harris on Sunday called for an “immediate ceasefire for at least the next six weeks.” And on Monday, Mr. Biden wrote on X that he “would not stop pushing for an agreement that would secure the release of Hamas’s remaining hostages, establish an immediate ceasefire in Gaza for at least six weeks and allow for a wave of aid to the entire Gaza Strip. ”

“The president is hearing from voters who are participating in the uncommitted campaigns,” said Lauren Hitt, spokeswoman for the Biden campaign. “He shares their goal for an end to violence and a just, lasting peace – and he is working tirelessly toward that goal.”

But organizers opposing Biden said in interviews that these steps were not enough. Several countries credited the Michigan campaign for the recent policy changes and said they hoped to further strengthen the administration’s position.

“We know how much anger is out there, and we have known it for months, but it was inspiring for everyone to see how it translated into effective political results,” said Cole Harrison, executive director of Massachusetts Peace Action, an anti-war organization. group. “We want to show that the anger is not just limited to Michigan.”

Some of Mr. Biden’s allies worry that continued efforts to oppose the president will weaken him in the general election against Mr. Trump. “Elections have a certain amount of momentum,” said Keith Ellison, Minnesota’s Democratic attorney general, who voted for Biden.

Mr. Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress in 2006, said: “There must be a ceasefire now.” But he argued that Mr. Trump was a threat to American democracy and must be fought at all costs — something that Mr. Biden’s opponents say is up to the Democratic Party to fix.

“If Joe Biden thinks that giving people crumbs, as he has done in the past, is going to work for him, he is in for a very rude awakening,” said Abdullah Elagha, organizer of the Colorado Palestine Coalition. approximately 30,000 calls.

Outreach was put together in a short time by groups already organizing pro-Palestinian protests – in Massachusetts and Colorado, organizers used already planned weekend rallies to promote protest votes. Uncommitted Minnesota said it has spent about $20,000 on the campaign since it started last Monday. Most of the outreach in other states has been virtual: Mr. Harrison said the Massachusetts operation, which launched Saturday, raised about $4,000 on Sunday to power their text messaging outreach.

The efforts have not received significant support in many of these states. In Minnesota, Representative Ilhan Omar, another member of the team, did so accused the Biden administration of “giving the green light to the mass murder of Palestinians,” but did not call on Democrats to vote uncommitted. (Ms. Omar’s office declined an interview request.)

The Super Tuesday effort is also being promoted by the national Abandon Biden campaign, a group that does just that December started made up of voters and organizers who have pledged not to vote for Biden in November regardless of whether he changes his position.

“What is a sham is that the Democratic Party thinks they can bully us with the Republican Party,” said Rania Masri, an activist who supports that campaign in North Carolina. “We’re not just going after the president — we’re going after every congressional official who supports this genocide, and we promise we won’t vote for any of them.”

The issue could plague Biden’s campaign last Tuesday. In Georgia, organizers are encouraging voters to leave the presidential option blank ahead of the March 12 primary. The organizers are in Washington undertake similar efforts to vote “not on record” in the state’s primary next week.

“Listening to Michigan has been an inspiration for many movements across the country,” said Rami Al-Kabra, a city council member in Bothell, Washington. “This is an anti-war effort. It was not our first choice, but we must let President Biden know that our votes cannot be taken for granted.”

Nicholas Nehamas contributed reporting from Minneapolis, Minnesota.