Listen to Michigan: Get More Uncommitted Votes to Help Former President Biden Win the 2020 Presidential Election in Michigan and the Role of Gaza
The uncommitted option in Michigan has gotten many votes during previous presidential primaries. For comparison, in 2012, the last time that Democrats had an incumbent president on the ballot, over 20,000 chose to vote uncommitted in Michigan.
The goal of Listen to Michigan is to get more than 10,000 uncommitted votes so that former President Trump won the election in the state. Biden won Michigan in 2020 by more than 150,000 votes.
The number of registered voters who identify as Muslim in Michigan went up to 200,000 in 2020, according to the U.S. Census.
Plus, opposition to Biden’s handling of Gaza may be spreading past Arab and Muslim voters. In a New York Times/Siena Poll, Biden received high disapproval for his handling of the issue from voters under 30.
In the forthcoming election, young voters may play a significant role. The Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University found that Michigan had the highest turnout of voters under 30.
The Campaign to End the War on Gaza: After the Oct. 7 Attack by Hamas on Israel, Listen to Michigan’s Campaign to Oppose for a Permanent Stop to the Fighting
“Our hope is that a long-overdue ceasefire agreement is reached as soon as humanly possible,” said spokesperson and Democratic strategist Abbas Alawieh in response to the news. In a statement to NPR, he added the campaign’s goal is for the president to come out in support of a permanent stop to the fighting.
“That’s the most important headline, that’s what I’m here for,” she said. “There are people under this umbrella that are waiting for [Biden] to change course. And there are people in November that have written him off, but they still have faith in the Democratic Party. That’s important, I think.
The campaign’s goal was to get more than 10,000 votes, approximately the margin that former President Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton by in 2016 when turnout dropped compared to former President Barack Obama’s reelection run four years earlier.
At a watch party in Michigan, Abbas Alawieh said Listen to Michigan’s movement has exceeded expectations and is calling for America to stop killing families. We’re only asking for that. Just stop killing our families,” he added.
They’re urging Biden to call for an immediate and permanent cease-fire in Gaza and stop sending U.S. aid to Israel. It comes nearly five months after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on Israel that killed 1,200 people. Since then, almost 30,000 people in Gaza have been killed.
Source: The push to vote ‘uncommitted’ to Biden in Michigan exceeds goal
The Michigan Caucus: The Status of the Reconciling Republican Party in the CP/CFT Correspondence (Republican Press)
As of 10:15 p.m. ET, more than 30,000 votes for the uncommitted option on the Democratic ballot have been counted, according to results reported by The Associated Press. The organizing in Wayne County has reported less than 1% of the results.
Trump is coming off a big victory in South Carolina. Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley has vowed to stay in the race for the GOP nomination until at least Super Tuesday on March 5 – despite losing by almost 20 percentage points in her home state.
The other names on the Democratic ballot are likely to get no support in the race. Phillips got less than 2% of the vote in South Carolina’s Democratic primary on Feb. 3, which is the last time he participated in an election contest. A self-help author who is on the ballot suspended her presidential bid earlier this month.
In accordance with RNC rules, only five states were allowed to hold primaries before March. In order to not violate RNC rules, the GOP in Michigan won’t give most of their delegates until March 2, when they will hold a caucus style convention.
Sixteen out of the 55 GOP delegates in Michigan are up for grabs today. 39 delegates will be allocated to the party’s convention.
Chaos and infighting within the Republican party will cause that convention to be held. There have been various efforts within different factions of the party to oust Michigan party chair Kristina Karamo – and replace her with Pete Hoesktra, a former congressman and former United States ambassador to the Netherlands appointed by Trump.
Karamo has refused to step down as chair of the party and said that she would be forced to quit if a court ordered her to. The caucus will be held during the state convention, causing a lot of confusion.
While Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan has endorsed the protest vote effort, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has not. She told CNN that anyone who doesn’t vote for Joe Biden supports a second Trump term. “A second term for Trump would be very sad,” she said.
It is not possible to tell how many protest votes will be cast in the Democratic primary, but they may spell trouble for Biden in the fall. Michigan is likely to be very close for a number of reasons.
Michigan voters have the option of voting by mail, in person on Election Day or early in-person. New state laws have required that voters have at least nine days of early voting in statewide elections.
Her office said in a statement that “over 78,000 voters voted in person at an early voting site, and more than 934,000 voters have returned their completed absentee ballot to their clerk for tabulation.”
On primary day, young Michigan voters are leading call to be ‘uncommitted’ to Biden: A Detroit mayor meets with local leaders in the wake of Gaza
Now, at 30, Aiyash is the Majority floor leader in the Michigan House of Representatives, but there’s no 2008 feeling when he looks ahead to this presidential election – in large part because of President Biden’s handling of Israel’s war in Gaza.
“We are hoping that the uncommitted movement will allow the administration to make changes in their policymaking and shift their strategy to save more lives in the Gaza conflict,” he said. To save lives.
The campaign was created by mostly young people with Middle Eastern or North African heritage from the Detroit area, which has half the population is of those groups.
Lexis said that the Listen to Michigan campaign is experiencing a revolution.
“You’re going to have your older generation that might still understand or believe in this two-party system,” she said. “But you’re also having younger voters that are trying so many different strategies and ways… to upend the current electoral system and let elected officials know that we’re not settling for this anymore.”
Mara Matta sits at a table in the back of the cafe in Dearborn and Watches another phone banking session for the campaign. Matta shies away from the idea of Democrats coming together to support Biden in the primary.
“The nice thing about primaries is that this is how we set the agenda for the rest of the campaign,” she said. The lives lost for the Palestinian people are dehumanizing because of the election results.
“We do not want to continue to be a part of the generation of voters, a generation of Americans, who continue to hand off the country to the next generation at a state of war,” said 24-year-old Lebanese American state Rep. Alabas Farhat, who represents portions of Detroit and Dearborn.
Khanna has endorsed Biden’s reelection campaign and is also advocating for a ceasefire. He also met with local Arab and Muslim leaders, including some who refused to meet with Biden campaign officials earlier this year.
Source: On primary day, young Michigan voters are leading call to be ‘uncommitted’ to Biden
Why do we need to [vote] Biden? What can we do about it, what are we going to do next year?
It would be foolish to think that this only affects 200,000 voters. It goes to the heart of the young voters and the progressive voters who will bring energy to the election.
Two people who are members of the NAACP Michigan Youth & College Division are considering not voting on Tuesday due to Gaza and general unhappiness with Biden’s first term.
“I think what’s important is just kind of letting that community know that they do have allies,” said Stevens, who identifies as mixed race and half Black.
We have a lot of similarities so we need to be there for each other even though we are not the same. “This was ours,” said Pittman, who is 23 and identifies as Black.
Bianca is Jewish and Latina. She made up her mind about her vote Tuesday. She’s voting uncommitted, but it’s a difficult choice as she looks to the general.
“I know that Trump being in office is going to be ten times worse. He has a track record unlike Biden, Biden never did anything like the Muslim ban. I’m almost cornered into having to [vote Biden] but I want to feel more resolved in that vote” she said.
She was standing with friends and a child as she spoke about what she was seeing on the internet. “You want to do anything you can, anything in your power. This is how much we can do.
“I feel powerful,” she said. “My whole life I got to watch what’s happening and have no say in it. This is the first time that I have a say in something.