Gaza protest vote tarnishes Biden’s Super Tuesday victories | USA Elections

The protest vote to demand a permanent ceasefire in Gaza has tarnished the victories of the president of the United States, Joe Biden, in the Democratic primaries on Super Tuesday, the electoral event in 15 states that is decisive to determine the candidates who face each other in the presidential elections. next November. The Democrat, whose only rivals were Congressman Dean Phillips and the writer Marianne Williamson, whose candidacies have never managed to take off, has achieved clear victories in almost all the states in the race, with margins of over 70%. In a statement, Biden highlighted: “Millions of voters across the country have made his voices heard, showing that they are ready to fight Donald Trump’s extremist plan to take us backwards.”

But, although the president did not mention it in his statement, in states such as Minnesota, a Democratic stronghold, or in North Carolina, the existence of underlying discontent with Biden among the party’s bases was clear. If in Samoa he lost the caucus Against businessman Jason Palmer, in Minnesota, Philips obtained 8% of the votes, a much higher proportion than what he has been registering in most of the primaries. The campaign launched by progressive groups and the Arab American community to vote “not declared” (equivalent to a blank vote) for the bombings on Gaza achieved 19% of the ballots with 95% of the votes counted, despite having a tiny budget and having been organized in a hurry. In the 2012 primaries, in which Democratic President Barack Obama was running for re-election, “undeclared” ballots represented only 3.7% of the votes.

This Tuesday’s blank ballots are enough to award delegates to the “undeclared” vote campaign, which had already obtained two in Michigan (1,968 delegates are needed to be named the official candidate of the Democratic Party at the convention to be held in Chicago in August).

It is also to point out that the discomfort with Biden reaches beyond the Arab American community and extends through the progressive wing of the party and its younger voters. Minnesota has a significant Arab and Muslim population, although smaller than Michigan’s, but its universities are vibrant centers of progressive ideas. The state has developed a reputation for choosing unconventional candidates: it named comedian Al Franken as a senator, and in the 2016 primary it opted for Bernie Sanders as the Democratic candidate.

“They ask to be heard, and that is what they should do… Their message is clear, they think this is an intolerable situation and they believe we can do more. And I think the president is paying attention,” said the governor of Minnesota, Democrat Tim Walz. Campaign organizers are seeking to pressure Biden to support a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, and are trying to show him that maintaining his position of support for Israel might cost him re-election in November.

Those responsible for the campaign believe that their pressure has begun to bear fruit and that gestures such as the call, last Sunday, by the vice president, Kamala Harris, for an “immediate” ceasefire are a reaction to the protest vote.

Michigan campaign manager Layla Elabed declared Tuesday night that “Minnesota has shown that the ‘undeclared’ movement is not going away.” In Michigan, where the primaries were held last week and that option had the support of dozens of politicians – including the only congresswoman of Palestinian origin, Rashida Tlaib, Elabed’s sister – the “undeclared” vote campaign received a 13 .3% of the ballots, more than 101,000.

The punishment vote has not been limited to Minnesota alone. In North Carolina, another State with a significant university population, with the count almost completed, almost 13% – regarding 88,000 – chose the ballot with the inscription “no preference”, also similar to a blank vote. In Colorado, the blank option reached at least 8% (with 79% counted), more than 43,430 votes. In Massachusetts, that option was chosen by more than 56,300 voters, 9% of the Democratic electorate, with 87% of the ballots counted.

“When we saw what was happening in Michigan last week, we realized that, of course, we had to mobilize in Massachusetts for Super Tuesday,” said one of the organizers of the campaign in that state, Sara Halawa, to the newspaper. Boston Globe. “In the days that followed, we reached out to everyone we knew cared regarding these issues, and a coalition was put in place.” “A week ago we had no idea that we were going to get into this,” said another of the organizers of the protest vote in that State, Omar Siddiqi, also at the Boston Globe. “At the speed at which this has been put together, [el resultado] exceeds our expectations. With 10,000 votes we would have been satisfied.”

The White House recalls that the United States is mediating to try to achieve a temporary six-week ceasefire in Gaza in the hope that it can serve as a first step toward a permanent cessation of hostilities. He also considers that, although Democratic voters now demonstrate their discontent, in November they will put aside their objections when a new confrontation between Biden and Trump arrives.

“My message to the country is this: every generation of Americans will face a moment when they have to defend democracy. Stand up for our personal freedom. Defend the right to vote and our civil rights. To every Democrat, Republican, and independent who believes in a free and fair America: this is our moment. This is our fight. Together, we will win,” the president said in his statement.

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