"Uncommitted": Over 100,000 Cast Protest Vote Against Biden's Gaza Policy in Michigan Primary

this is democracy Now democracynow.org the Warren peace report I'm Amy Goodman in New York joined by democracy Now co-host Swan Gonzalez in Chicago hi Juan hi Amy and welcome to all of our listeners and viewers across the country and around the world we begin Today's Show in Michigan where President Joe Biden won the Democratic primary Tuesday but faced a significant backlash over his support for Israel's assault on Gaza Biden W about 81 % of the vote but over a 100,000 voters or more than 13% cast their ballots for uncommitted in recent weeks the group listen to Michigan urg Democrats to vote uncommitted to pressure Biden to call on Israel to end its assault on Gaza organizers of the campaign had said they were hoping for 10,000 uncommitted votes pointing to Donald Trump's win of less than 11,000 votes in 2016 to show the significance of that number Tuesday's vote shows that they got 10 times that amount Michigan is the first major Battleground state in the general election to hold its primary it's also home to one of the largest arab-american populations in the country top White House officials visited Michigan earlier this month to meet with Arab and Muslim leaders after a number of them refused to meet with Biden's campaign manager the movement to vote uncommitted will likely spread to other states organizers of the movement are holding a call with supporters in Minnesota which will vote next week in Washington state which holds its primary March 12th for Mo we're joined by two guests James zby is president of the Arab American Institute his new opinion piece for Pakistan today is titled why the USA continues to fail the Arab world he's joining us from udica New York we're also joined by former Democratic Congress member from Michigan Andy 11 he's joining us from Southfield M Michigan we welcome you both to democracy Now You're a former Congress member Andy Levan you're also a former synagogue president talk about this uncommitted campaign for every six votes President Biden got yesterday in the primary uncommitted got one talk about the organizing effort and what message that you hope that those who supported uncommitted like yourself uh sent to President Biden well good morning Amy and everyone I don't have much of a voice left so sorry about that um it was really an incredible thing Amy you know I've been organizing for peace for 40 years and I've rarely seen such an organic and authentic movement come together in as you say la just three weeks and we got over 100,000 people to vote uncommitted this was something that grew up out of the Arab American and larger Muslim communities in Michigan but it had great power among progressives among Jewish people Christians Muslims people of other faiths people of no faith uh college campuses were a flame about this and the idea was that Michigan has this uncommitted box on our ballot because remember this is a presidential primary and some other states do the same thing you're voting to send delegates to a convention so you could vote to send delegates uncommitted and in fact we won so many votes I believe we will send at least one delegate from two congressional districts the sixth district represented by Debbie Dingle and the 12th District rep uh represented by Rashida Talib I think the significance of this Amy is that the president's people and maybe the president himself there's a danger that they see this as sort of like a political problem we need to send surrogates we need better messaging people just need to realize what a disaster Trump would be which of course we can never let him get near the White House again so they'll come around all of this no This Is War this is a killing of tens of thousands of innocent people leveling whole neighborhoods most of the Gaza Strip we don't just want you to set use a better message the message from us to the President yesterday was you must change course you must change course for the sake of your political reelection and because it's the right and necessary thing to do from every point of view including us National Security interest for God's sake the message to the president is stop treating what BB Netanyahu says as the boundaries of boundary of the possible you've got to move towards an immediate and permanent ceasefire and an end to this Carnage free all the hostages free political prisoners uh among the Palestinians including leading longtime prisoners who if you if you don't like Hamas free Maran barouti who's been in prison for so long whom many Palestinians might support to change the situation there so we really need actual change in policy and I think we sent that message strongly last night Andy L I wanted to ask you uh I was particularly struck by the turnout the Michigan Secretary of State Joselyn Benson said this was a record turnout on Tuesday for a presidential primary compared to for instance South Carolina where only 4% of Democrats up uh voted in the primary here we had over uh it looks like 50% uh could you explain this issue of turnout as well well one thing is that there were more quite a greater number of Republicans voting or people voting in the Republican primary than the Democratic primary that's also something that's not great for President Biden but there was some sense of a contest on that side right even though we all know that Nikki Haley was going to trail by a wide margin but it is remarkable Juan think about it we have an incumbent Democratic president running for reelection we all know he's going to be the nominee most Democrats feel like maybe he's done a really great job in other areas personally I was really proud to serve with him in the 117th Congress I'm proud of the investing in America agenda that we passed having some at least a semblance of industrial policy in America for the first time in many decades and and on and on but what's remarkable is that this 100,000 plus people who voted uncommitted almost all of them on wouldn't have showed up but for this no they're mad at the president they would have stayed home and our message was wait a minute that would be a disaster if you stayed home he won't get the message he won't understand come out and express your rage shake your fist at the president and say look for most of them I voted for you in 2020 I'm really mad at you right right now and I have to tell you so that I think Jews turn out and look at East Lancing where Michigan State University is look at Ann Arbor where the University of Michigan is it's not just Dearborn and Hamtramck with our incredible beautiful concentration of arab-american and other Muslim voters it's also young people across the state and progressives across the state who said we're your base we want to win in November in order to win we want peace now Andy 11 the last time we talked to you you were a congress member you were running for reelection APAC the American Israel public affairs committee had invested millions in Democratic primaries to defeat progressives who supported Palestine uh you were one of those they were trying to defeat um you're a self-described Zionist who supports the two state solution but earlier um uh before that primary a former president of APAC described you as arguably the most corrosive member of Congress to the US Israel relationship um can you talk about what happened to you then you lost that election um but do you see um your point of view being embraced much um both in Michigan and around the country in a way that Apec never imagined I do Amy I mean basically they spent millions of dollars of dark money they raised a huge amount of so-called hard money for my opponent in that primary who basically towed the APAC line completely and now they say they're going to spend a 100 million in 20122 and evidently that they've already raised $44 million to take out progressives and Democratic primaries and much of their money is coming for from Republican billionaires who don't have any place in a Democratic primary and shame on us as Democrats if we continue to allow Democratic candidates to take Republican money in Democratic primaries but here's the situation this Avalanche of mostly dark money coming to try to interfere with democratic primaries is running into a tsunami of upset by Democratic based voters who say the the Jewish people deserve self-determination what about the Palestinian people and in fact there is no peace and security for the Jewish people in the Holy Land unless and until we realize the political and human rights of the Palestinian people and we have to love each other we have to support each other we have to find a way to live together and yes this is a huge rebuke to that point of view that we must support the Israeli government no matter what they do I mean why are we letting BB Netanyahu set the boundary of the possible this man has never been for a just piece for one day in his life he's actively opposed Palestinian self-determination his whole career like some other people we know he's fighting to stay in office so that he doesn't go to jail I mean come on you could support the people of Israel and the people of Palestine without supporting these horrible policies and this horrible War I mean you know think of the average I I think of myself Amy 40 years ago when I was a college student and if I read what the New York Times reported for example that the US was supplying 2,000 pound bombs to Israel and the IDF was dropping them not just on densely populated areas but on places where they had told the Palestinians to flee and then at the end of the article by the way we've sent 5,000 more of one type of 2,000lb bombs to Israel since October that Andy 11 of 40 years ago is not unlike college students and other young people all around Michigan's campuses and working people saying whoa this is unacceptable and we showed the president that we don't accept it yesterday yeah I'd like to bring in James zby to the conversation get your reaction to the uh to the vote uh in Michigan and also uh whether you think that uh this uncommitted movement could spread across the country especially now as we head into Super Tuesday on March 5th well look number one I want to thank Andy Len for his leadership uh he was made an enormous difference here and we're we're so pleased to be partnering as as we were in this in this campaign secondly I think message sent 100 plus thousand uncommitted votes much larger than anyone anticipated uh makes a point President Biden you ignore this vote at your risk um and thirdly I think uh there frankly is not a need to go any further and I think that the it's very clear we can extrapolate from the rest of the states um what the the turnout would be um in November if we ignore uh this issue and continue to ignore this issue not only as as the congressman said with the arab-american vote but with young voters black voters we've done polling my brother John has done polling on this among American voters not just Arab American voters the the the the impact that the Gaza war is having on voters under 29 the impact it's having on black Latino and Asian voters who are core to the Democratic Coalition is very clear we just wanted to make a point in Michigan it was it was the place to make the point but frankly it also can be read in Virginia it can be read in Georgia it can be read in Pennsylvania um you ignore this war and you continue to offer nothing but anod U well we're really with you and we feel bad too and we're paying attention and working every day that that does not cut it at this point there is genocide unfolding people want it to end um the president either is going to have to act decisively to end it or it's going to have an impact in November and as the congressman said as as the organizers of this movement have been very clear this is not the abandoned Biden movement this is the for God's sake shape up or you might lose in November Biden movement and the fact is is that the president has to listen and change um it's it's going to be too late for some uh the fact that 30,000 have already died that famine is on the way that genocide has continued uh is going to mean a lot of people are going to say I can't do this I just can't do it but if there's to be any effort at all made to bring some voters back something dramatic has to happen and change from the White House to say let's give them another shot but frankly right now we're having trouble finding that message and I I think Michigan sends a very strong signal that doesn't have to be repeated anywhere else look when I saw the Emerson College poll out the day before uh this vote I said message sent they had 11% we got a little you know we did did a little better than that um they said youth vote was Voting uncommitted we did that we showed that in college towns across the street we won uncommitted one in Dearborn it beat Joe Biden uncommitted one in hand trami beat Joe Biden those are the two concentrations of arab-american Voters um the president needs to pay attention and and I hope he does and I you know and I hope he does in a way that is decisive and clear and actually turns the corner and James zby of course in Michigan the participation of elected officials like congresswoman Rashida and other local Michigan officials did have an impact on that vote do you see other Democratic part party officials in other states following that lead well look we've already seen City councils in SE 70 cities do this um and that number is growing uh there is it not just among uh Arab American like I you know we saw a lot of that missig we also saw black officials we saw Progressive Jewish officials and um as important as Rashid was Andy Levan was an important message sender here that this is a broader movement for justice and let's not forget that city council woman in Detroit came out just a couple days before the vote saying I'm with uncommitted that's important uh having black elected officials Arab American elected officials Progressive Jewish elected officials saying we want this to end and we want President Biden to make a difference that's important and so yeah I think this is going to have a sort of an effect across the country um and we don't need to do it in other states we just don't because the message is very clear number one you don't win Michigan there's no way to create an electoral map that you win the you win on November but number two we can extrapolate what happens in Michigan and say h it's going to happen in Virginia it's going to happen in Georgia you're going to lose youth vote black vote Arab American vote and you don't win Pennsylvania if that's the case so I think you know I've been doing this for a long long time and uh and I know that these voters groups have to have a reason to turn out I think what was important about this and Congressman I thank you and and others for it was that you gave people a reason to turn out these uncommitted voters would not have turned out and they would not turn out again in November if they didn't have a reason to turn out we gave them a reason with uncommitted Joe Biden's got to give them a reason in November and talk Jim zogby about the other states uh talk talk about Minnesota and other states who are now apparently adopting this uncommitted uh vote but in Michigan what's different right is it's actually printed on the ballot and I think you can also add I mean most people didn't they talked about Dean Phillips uh but Marian Williamson who suspended her campaign came in third and she was the one Democrat for a ceasefire so you could probably add her votes to the uncommitted votes here for example uh the Arab Community said let's back Maryann Williams and even though she dropped out because she's on the ballot and there is no other option look I let me say I'm not going to discourage anybody from trying to do it in other states I just like I said I don't think you need to and I I would rather have energy focused on city council resolutions and getting people to sign on to ceasefire resolutions across the board um there is a um I did the Palestine statehood resolutions in uh 1988 with Jesse Jackson we passed them in 11 states we got to the National Convention had the first ever uh debate from the podium on a minority plank after that everybody continued doing it but without Jesse in the mix we never had the the momentum to carry it through we had a a number of Ideal things come together in Michigan a huge concentration of Arab Americans the support of elected officials local elected officials Mayors State reps Etc city council people we also had Congressman Levan who was great on college campuses in terms of mobilizing and bringing people forward and a great collection of organizers and a budget to make it happen we're not going to have that in Minnesota we're not going to have that in other states and so I don't want to see people set up for failure and so I think you take what happened in Michigan you extrapolate it to your state you send the message to President Biden it happened here it can happen elsewhere there's no need to try to replicate what can't be automatically rep replicated given the ideal composition of forces in Michigan that made this happen um and so I I I frankly think I don't know what's going to happen in other states but I don't want to take a defeat in Minnesota because it's not even on the damn ballot and say oh look it's it's and give the other side a crowing right they're going to try whatever they can do to Crow and say we really didn't they didn't accomplish anything because uh uh the 81% still voted for Joe Biden of course 81 voted for Joe Biden but that's not going to mean November uh because in the Emerson poll Joe Biden's losing by two points 11% uncommitted and Joe Biden loses by two points H does that dmfi Democratic majority for Israel don't you get what that means that means that you need that 11% to come to your side in order to put you over the top um that we can we can say that in every state without having to go through this whole process especially when it's not even on the ballot and you can't really get the same outcome come you get in Michigan we're going to end with Andy Len um you come from a political Dynasty your uncle was the um uh late senator who headed the armed services committee Carl Levan I'm sure a close friend of uh President Biden uh your father uh Congressman as well Sandy Levan what do you think they would say at this point about this movement about this demand and Grassroots organizing well Amy Uncle Carl passed away as you know several years ago my dad is 92 and going strong and he is really proud of what I'm doing uh he you know was was involved in helping Soviet Jews flee to Israel he you know he's supported uh US policy uh for a two-state solution forever but I think he understands that there is no way now after 50 four years of occupation and things going in the wrong direction there's no way forward unless the president of the United States steps up and leads much more strongly as a peacemaker and look I'm going to end on a hopeful note Joe Biden with this long history as CH of cheering the Foreign Relations Committee in the Senate and you know every he says he's known all the Israeli leaders all the Palestinian leaders you've got to step up Mr President and now end this Carnage and lead a diplomatic effort not a military effort to end this conflict it can be done you've got to step up and do it both because it's the right thing to do and because your politics depend on it as Jim zogby said the other states are fine Michigan is a must-win State Minnesota isn't you know for example uh he's going to win Minnesota anyway I think but you've got to win Michigan to put the electoral college math together and I think it's just going to be hard to do unless you change course so let's get going well clearly President Biden's hearing people um when he was with Seth Meyers the other night the late night comic in an ice cream store as he was licking his mint chip ice cream a reporter asked a question about a ceasefire and he said yes he thinks it's going to happen on Monday that surprised both Israel and Hamas we'll see what happens but it was on the eve of the Michigan primary that he said that Andy 11 I want to thank you for being with us former Democratic Congress member from Michigan and James zby president of the Arab American Institute

Channel: Democracy Now!

Views: 224,713

Keywords: Democracy Now, Amy Goodman, News, Politics, democracynow, Independent Media, Breaking News, World News

Id: fsZkS0GiWP0

Length: 24min 4sec (1444 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 28 2024