Biden, Trump notch wins in Michigan primaries
DEARBORN, Mich. — President Joe Biden won Michigan’s Democratic primary election Tuesday but was facing significant opposition over his support for Israel as it wages war in the Gaza Strip, with a substantial percentage of voters casting ballots for “uncommitted” as part of a protest movement against him.
Former President Donald Trump was also victorious in the Republican primary, coasting past former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley to continue his undefeated primary streak. The Associated Press called both races as final polls closed at 9 p.m. eastern time.
The results demonstrated how both Biden and Trump are confronting enduring weakness within their parties, with meaningful numbers of Democrats and Republicans voting against them even as they close in on the nominations.
In the Democratic primary, Biden faced his most significant challenge not from another candidate but from Arab American voters, progressives and young people protesting his support for Israel by choosing “uncommitted.”
Early results showed that “uncommitted” had already received more support than the roughly 11,000 votes by which Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in Michigan’s 2016 general election — the initial goal publicly set by the protest campaign’s organizers. Biden beat Trump by about 150,000 votes in Michigan in 2020.
About 20,000 Democrats voted “uncommitted” in each of the past three Michigan Democratic presidential primaries. Tuesday’s early results suggested that the number could be much higher against Biden this year.
“It’s not just the Arab American and Muslim community,” Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., whose district includes Ann Arbor, said on CNN on Tuesday night. “It’s young people who want to be heard and have the same concerns.”
The strength of the “uncommitted” campaign, she said, is “not a surprise to me.”
The movement aimed to warn Biden that he must change his stance on Gaza or face repercussions in November. The threat was most urgent in Michigan, which was vital to Biden’s 2020 victory and has lately tilted toward Trump in polls, but risked reverberating across the country.
Michigan — thanks to its large Arab American population, college campuses and early primary date — became the electoral focal point of wider Democratic unease with Biden’s support for Israel’s offensive in Gaza, which health authorities say has killed more than 29,000 Palestinians. Some of his allies feared that if the movement registered serious disapproval against him, it could have lasting effects into the general election, especially if Biden held firm to his position on the conflict.
Trump faced gentler headwinds on the Republican side, again defeating Haley. He is expected to pick up far more delegates Saturday, when rival factions of Republicans are set to hold dueling conventions after a monthslong leadership fight that has thrown the state party into chaos.
That could mean the state will send two slates of delegates to the national convention this summer. Both sides are loyal to Trump, and the Republican National Committee has recognized one faction, led by Pete Hoekstra, as legitimate.
Trump and his allies have sought to turn squarely to the general election. Pushing Haley to drop out, they have argued that she is forcing him to spend money that would be better used against Biden. Bolstered by campaign cash from wealthy donors, she has said she will keep competing through the Super Tuesday primaries March 5.
For Biden, the “uncommitted” movement was his biggest test so far in a primary season he has dominated as an incumbent, despite a long-shot challenge from Representative Dean Phillips of Minnesota.
Even as Biden has stepped up pressure on Israel to wind down the war and expressed new hopes for a cease-fire, polls show that many Democrats disapprove of his handling of the conflict, and pro-Gaza protesters have shown up at his appearances around the country.
He did not campaign in Michigan in the three weeks leading up to the primary, and few other top Democrats from outside the state traveled to stump on his behalf. When Vice President Kamala Harris held an event in Grand Rapids last week, it was closed to the public.