Biden wins Michigan but faces 'uncommitted' votes in protest of his Gaza policy

By Iclal Turan

WASHINGTON (AA) - US President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump easily won their parties’ primaries in the state of Michigan on Tuesday but faced lessons from voters over Israel's war on Gaza.

Trump emerged as the winner in the Michigan Republican primary, defeating his main rival, Nikki Haley, according to US media projections.

On the Democratic side, Biden has won despite facing a backlash from Arab and Muslim groups, who voted "uncommitted" in protest of his administration's Gaza policy.

The number of "uncommitted" votes in the Michigan Democratic primary has exceeded the 10,000-vote goal set by the organizers of the protest effort, with more than 50,000 voting "uncommitted," or 13% of the votes, according to CNN's projections

In a statement following his primary win, Biden thanked voters but did not mention the "uncommitted" votes while warning against Trump’s "MAGA extremism."

"Four years ago, it was Michigan’s diverse coalition that came together to reject Donald Trump’s MAGA extremism and sent me and Kamala (Harris) to the White House," he wrote on X.

“Because of Michiganders, we’ve been able to work hand in hand with Governor (Gretchen) Whitmer and the incredible Democratic leaders in Michigan’s congressional delegation to deliver enormous progress. I was proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with UAW workers last year as they led the fight for the wages and benefits they deserve."

“For all of this progress, there is so much left to do. Donald Trump is threatening to drag us even further into the past as he pursues revenge and retribution," he added.

- 'Uncommitted votes'

A group of Arab and Muslim Americans as well as progressive Democrats and representatives of Jewish groups such as Jewish Voice for Peace gathered Tuesday evening at Adonis, a Middle Eastern restaurant in Dearborn, Michigan, where they celebrated their success in the "uncommitted" campaign.

Layla Elabed, the "Listen to Michigan" campaign manager, which aimed to get 10,000 “uncommitted” votes to convey a warning to Biden ahead of the November election, thanked all the team members and volunteers for the successful campaign.

"We are pro-Palestinian. And we demand President Biden to take action now. Bring a permanent cease-fire and end the unchecked, unconditional military aid that is funding a genocide in 2024," she said.

Speaking at the same event, Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud said they want to see a "complete withdrawal of support for the most radical and tyrannical government in Israel's history."

"Tonight, we will watch the votes tally. But what's most important is to understand if the White House is listening, if our congressional leaders are listening, if our state leaders are listening," he said.

"Tonight I will go home to my children and to my wife. I will sleep a little bit more tonight," he said. "I wake up in the early hours of every morning, as I have done for over 120 days, waiting to see what the death toll was the day before."

"We are tired of seeing children dying. We are tired of hearing about mothers who don't have enough food to feed their babies," he said, adding that hospitals and schools, refugee camps and playgrounds are being bombed with US taxpayer dollars.

"This coalition is one that wants to bring the morality back to this country, because somewhere along the line, we have lost it," he said, referring to the campaign for the "uncommitted vote.”

There are more than 310,000 people of Middle Eastern and North African descent living in Michigan, about 3.1% of the population of this key swing state, according to 2020 census data.

In 2020, Biden defeated Trump in Michigan by a margin of a little more than 150,000 votes, a significant contrast to 2016, when Trump won by less than 11,000 votes against Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.

In addition to the Listen to Michigan movement, the “Abandon Biden” campaign also voted “uncommitted” on Tuesday.

Farah Khan, a 47-year-old Pakistani American who is an IT professional from Northville, Michigan and has been participating in the “Abandon Biden” campaign actively, said she did not vote for Biden, adding that her message is "anything but Biden."

"We are abandoning Biden because of his policies, because he abandoned his people. He abandoned Michigan. He abandoned Muslims. He abandoned the minorities," she told Anadolu in front of Miller Elementary School in Dearborn.

"He took our vote…And now he just turned around and stabbed us in the back," she said. "So we are not going to support Biden no matter what. Not now, not in November."