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President Joe Biden survived plans by progressives and Arab-Americans to vote “uncommitted” in protest of his support for Israel to win the Michigan primary on Tuesday evening.
Michigan is home to one of the largest Arab-American populations in the country, specifically located in Dearborn, just outside of Detroit. As of late Tuesday evening, with 47 out of 48 per cent of its precincts reported, the city reported that 56.22 per cent of the city’s population voted “uncommitted” while 40.37 per cent of Dearborn turned out for Mr Biden.
As of early Wednesday morning, with a more than half of the vote reporting, Mr Biden received 81.1 per cent of the vote in the Democratic primary, while 13 percent of voters chose “uncommitted.” But much of Wayne County, the largest county in Michigan that houses a large part of Detroit, had yet to report its results.
Mr Biden touted the win in a statement, citing his support for striking auto workers in Michigan, such as when he became the first president to walk a picket line last year.
“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,” he said. We took on Big Pharma and are lowering the cost of prescription drugs for nearly 2 million Michigan seniors. We’re investing in our world-class auto industry and are finally making big corporations pay their fair share after Trump rigged the economy for special interests and gave handouts to his wealthy friends.”
Mr Biden’s overwhelming victory in Michigan pushes back most of the concerns some had about a primary in a crucial swing state. Many Arab-Americans have expressed dissatisfaction toward Mr Biden regarding his support for Israel in its response to Hamas in Gaza after Hamas staged a surprise attack on October 7, killed 1,200 people and took numerous hostages.
Arab-Americans make up about two per cent of Michigan’s population and many have loved ones who have either died or otherwise been displaced by Israel’s assault on Gaza that has so far killed more than 29,000 Palestinians, many of them women and children.
In turn, many said they planned to vote “uncommitted” rather than support Mr Biden or Democratic Congressman Dean Phillips in the primary.
Representative Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian American congresswoman, urged Michiganders to vote uncommitted. Conversely, Mr Biden enjoyed the support of many of the Democratic leadership in the state including the state’s Governor Gretchen Whitmer, whom many consider to be a future contender for the White House.
The primary also served as an important bellwether given Michigan’s outsized prominence in the general election. Donald Trump became the first Republican to win the state on the presidential level since 1988 in 2016, but Mr Biden put it back in the Democratic column in 2020. After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade in 2022, Democrats flipped both houses its state legislature for the Democrats for the first time in decades.
Since then, Michigan’s state legislature has flipped and Democrats stand a solid chance of holding the Senate seat held by the retiring Debbie Stabenow. Democrats hope to keep Michigan in their column as well as neighboring states Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, both of which Mr Trump won in 2016 but Mr Biden won in 2020.
But Mr Biden, 81, continues to face lagging poll numbers in multiple surveys in Michigan and continues to face lingering questions about his advanced age. Mr Trump has repeatedly hit Mr Biden for supposedly not being mentally cognizant, and former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, who is running against Mr Trump for the Republican nomination, has said both men are too old.
Mr Biden’s victory in Michigan also comes as Democrats officially changed their presidential primary calendar to make South Carolina their first contest and Michigan their second contest in an attempt to move beyond the typical calendar of the Iowa Caucus and the New Hampshire primary. Democrats argue states like South Carolina and Michigan, with are more racially diverse offer a better sampling of the party than the largely white Iowa and New Hampshire.
