Iclal Turan
28 February 2024•Update: 29 February 2024
DEARBORN, Michigan
The Listen to Michigan campaign that urged Michigan voters to vote "uncommitted" in the Democratic primary, demanded President Joe Biden on Wednesday stop the US’ "complicity and funding of genocide" in the Gaza Strip.
"President Biden, do not make a mockery of the Democratic Party and our American democracy by aligning with Netanyahu's extreme right-wing government," Listen to Michigan campaign manager Layla Elabed said at a news conference in Dearborn, Michigan.
"It would be irresponsible to alienate the thousands of Michiganders who sent a clear and resounding message that we demand a permanent cease-fire now, and we demand the end of funding bombs and weapons used to kill Palestinians indiscriminately, paid for by the American taxpayer," she said.
"The threat of another Trump presidency is an ugly and incompetent way to win a presidency, " she said, adding that Michigan Democrat voters are sending Biden a message that we will not vote for him when "humanity and our core values are at risk."
Biden easily won the Michigan Democratic primary on Tuesday but faced backlash from Arab and Muslim groups, who voted "uncommitted" in protest of his administration's Gaza policy.
The number of "uncommitted" votes in the primary exceeded the 10,000-vote goal set by organizers, with more than 100,000 voting "uncommitted," or 13% of the vote.
The Biden campaign acknowledged that voters in the key swing state expressed serious frustrations but denied it is in worry or panic mode.
“Any reporting that we’re panicked or deeply concerned would be wrong,” CNN quoted a campaign official.
There are more than 310,000 people of Middle Eastern and North African descent living in Michigan, about 3.1% of the population in the state, according to 2020 census data.
In 2020, Biden defeated Donald Trump in Michigan by 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.
Speaking at the news conference, Abbas Alawieh, a spokesman for Listen to Michigan, said the message was clear with the "uncommitted" votes in the primary.
"Our movement succeeded in its effort to put an anti-war option on the Michigan Democratic presidential primary ballot," he said. "There was an anti-war option on the ballot last night yesterday, and that option was uncommitted."
"We sent a very clear message to President Biden that this community here in Michigan needs him to change his policies before he comes and asks for our votes," he added.
Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud said at the news conference after facing more than 100,000 "uncommitted" votes last night Biden has a choice.
"He has the choice to continue supporting and aligning himself with a war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu, the most tyrannical government in history," he said, adding that Biden also has a choice to "heed the concerns," not only people in Dearborn or Michigan, but across this country.
"Gaza is not some distant land, where innocent men, women and children are dying. These are family members and friends that are meaningful to not only us here in Dearborn, who are losing family members on a daily basis," he said, adding that it is also meaningful to many Michiganders.
"It's not just an Arab or Muslim issue. This is an American issue," he stressed.
