An initiative organized by dissident Democrats outraged over President Biden's handling of the Israel-Gaza war has sent a powerful shot across the bow of his presidential campaign, as more than 100,000 Democrats voted "uncommitted" in the Michigan primary.
That's more than 9 times former President Trump's 10,704-vote victory margin in his 2016 defeat of Hillary Clinton, in a critical swing state that will be worth 15 electoral votes in the November general election. Critically, that 100,000-voter coalition turned out for a primary election where the conclusion was foregone. There are likely many more who share their sentiments but didn't bother voting.
With more than 95% of votes counted, "uncommitted" accounted for a hefty 13.3% of the statewide total. Biden had 81.1%, while Marianne Williamson, who suspended her campaign three weeks ago, was edging the still-campaigning Rep. Dean Phillips 3.0% to 2.7%. Wayne County, home of Dearborn and its large Muslim population, saw 21% vote uncommitted with 75% of the count completed.
Michigan has one of the largest Muslim populations in America. Angered by Biden's lop-sided support for Israel and failure to restrain an Israel Defense Forces campaign that has caused tens of thousands of civilian casualties -- including a high proportion of children -- leaders have promoted a nationwide campaign to "Abandon Biden." An allied effort, under the moniker of "Listen to Michigan," was championed by Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib.
Some Michigan Muslims are sufficiently angry that they've threatened to vote Republican in November. They realize the GOP is subservient to the State of Israel, but they credit Republicans for at least being honest about it. Where Biden is concerned, they feel betrayed and lied to, and want to punish him and like-minded Democrats.
In the run-up to the primary, Biden and his team gingerly yet clumsily attempted to mend relations with Michigan's Muslims. Biden himself didn't dare meet with them personally. Instead, Team Biden sent Jewish national security advisor Jon Finer for a closed-door meeting in which he told Arab-American political leaders, “We are very well aware that we have [made] missteps in the course of responding to this crisis since Oct. 7." It clearly didn't work.
Don't think the uncommitted votes were only cast by Muslims. Progressive leftists and young voters factored in too. In Washtenaw County, home of the University of Michigan, 17% voted uncommitted.
The "uncommitted" movement didn't just earn publicity and shake the Biden campaign. It's also expected to result in Michigan actually sending one uncommitted delegate to the Democratic nominating convention. "Under Michigan’s Democratic primary rules, candidates can receive delegates by earning at least 15 percent of the vote in a specific congressional district," reports the New York Times' Zach Johnk. That seems a certainty where Tlaib's Michigan-12 district.
This could be the start of a rolling nightmare for the Biden-Harris campaign. While leftist media and party officials will spin the Michigan result in favor of Biden, it's made a national splash and could ignite a trend that spreads to upcoming states, with Democrats seizing upon the tactic to voice not only disappointment with Biden's approach to Israel and Gaza, but also to express their long-simmering general dissatisfaction with Biden. A Rasmussen poll released Monday found that 48% of Democrats backed the idea of the Democratic Party "finding another candidate to replace Joe Biden before the election in November."
If Biden remains the candidate, the biggest general-election threat in Michigan isn't that Muslims and college students will vote Red in November, but that they'll simply stay home, or cast protest votes for candidates like the Green Party's Jill Stein. Don't expect them to vote for independent Robert F. Kennedy, Jr, who decisively repelled a once-promising block of Kennedy-curious progressives and libertarians with his over-the-top, pro-Israel rhetoric.
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