by Our Revolution, the political organization that Senator Bernie Sanders launched in 2016, is supporting the movement to vote No Compromised in the Michigan Democratic primary, seeking to pressure President Biden to change his approach to the war between Israel and Hamas.
On Wednesday, Our Revolution plans to send an email to 87,000 members in Michigan and about 225,000 supporters in other states, encouraging them to vote No Compromise in the state’s Feb. 27 primary to “pressure Biden to change course on Gaza now.” .
Former Rep. Andy Levin, a Michigan Democrat and a signatory of the letter, said Biden ran the risk of voters not turning out in the November election in protest of U.S. policy toward the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. He warned that Biden could lose the state to former President Donald J. Trump in the general election without a major change in policy toward Israel.
“I’m working with some people who feel like they will never vote for Joe Biden, but there are many, many, many who I think will vote for Joe Biden on November 5 if he changes course,” Levin said in an interview. Tuesday in the afternoon. “This is the best way I can help Joe Biden.”
Our Revolution’s push to support Uncommitted will include phone banking, text banking and events on Michigan college campuses. The group’s effort joins another by a group of Arab American Democrats in Dearborn, Michigan, which has since attracted the support of a few dozen local elected officials.
Larry Cohen, president of Our Revolution, said he hoped such a push could win the support of at least 10 percent of Michigan’s Democratic primary electorate, which he estimated would require about 20,000 votes, given estimates of what is expected to be a low involvement. contest. There are no other major elections on the state’s Feb. 27 ballot.
Last week, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a prominent Biden surrogate, urged the state’s voters to back the president in the primary; She warned that whipping support against her now could backfire in November.
“There is a lot at stake in the upcoming election and I would just encourage people to not lose sight of that as well.” he told reporters Thursday. “A possible second term for the former president would be very hard on all the communities that are still affected by what is happening abroad, and that is something that should not go unnoticed in people’s calculations either.”
Biden’s campaign declined to comment.
Biden is not likely to be challenged by the other Democrats on the Michigan ballot. Marianne Williamson suspended her long-range campaign last week. Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota has failed to gain more than a small amount of support outside of New Hampshire, where he fell 40 points behind Biden, who was not on the ballot there.
The Biden administration has expressed concern about the erosion of Michigan support. Last week, a delegation of officials met with Arab American and Muslim leaders in Dearborn, at which a senior official acknowledged mistakes in the administration’s response to the war in Gaza.
The last time there was a significant effort to get Michigan Democrats to vote Uncommitted was in 2008. After Michigan defied Democratic National Committee rules by moving its primary up on that year’s nominating calendar, the Michigan campaign Barack Obama, who was not on the ballot, urged his supporters to vote for Uncommitted as a representative against Hillary Clinton. About 40 percent of Democratic primary voters that year chose No Compromise against Clinton and three other candidates.
