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'UNCOMMITTED' VOTE AGAINST BIDEN BLOWS PAST GOAL IN MINNESOTA'S
DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY  
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Briana Bierschbach and Josie Albertson-Grove
March 6, 2024
Star Tribune
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_ In Minnesota's primary for the Democratic Party, more than 45,000
people voted uncommitted. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said on CNN
Wednesday morning that "these are voters that are deeply concerned, as
we all are. The situation in Gaza is intolerable." _

Semira Ibrahim of Apple Valley held a sign urging voters to vote
uncommitted, at a news conference outside the federal courthouse in
Minneapolis on Feb. 26., (Aaron Lavinsky, Star Tribune)

 

A push from progressive Minnesotans and members of the Muslim
community to get voters to check "uncommitted" in the state's
Democratic presidential primary won nearly 46,000 votes Tuesday
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far surpassing their goal of 5,000 votes.

Organizers of the campaign declared victory Tuesday night, saying the
result will send a message to President Joe Biden that large factions
of his own party want him to support a permanent cease-fire in Gaza.

"We're doing this so President Biden knows Democrats have had enough
of this endless support of a genocidal regime," said Asma Mohammed, an
organizer with the campaign. "We've had enough with seeing broken
bodies of Palestinian children every time we open our phones, and
today we are showing him that Minnesota is on the side of justice and
humanity."

Organizers set a goal of doubling the number of uncommitted votes in
the last presidential primary. The campaign is building on momentum
from a similar push in Michigan, which earned more than 100,000 votes
in the state's primary last week. Minnesota and Michigan were crucial
states in Biden's 2020 victory.

While Biden overwhelmingly won the primary with 70% of the vote, the
uncommitted votes came in second, earning nearly 19% of the vote and
beating Minnesota DFL U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips, who got just under 8%
in his home state
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Given their turnout, the uncommitted campaign will be able to send 11
delegates from Minnesota to the DNC's convention in Chicago in August.

"More votes than Dean Phillips!" activist Walter Fromm of Minneapolis
said at Vote Uncommitted MN's watch party Tuesday night in a vacant
storefront on Lake Street. "Let's go!"

Fromm said he made thousands of phone calls for the Biden campaign in
2020, but he and others who volunteered for Biden are angry with him
now. "Everybody who worked with me then is voting uncommitted today,"
Fromm said.

He guessed Vote Uncommitted MN volunteers called and texted about
200,000 voters over the last week. Asked what he might do in November,
Fromm said, "Donald Trump is a serious threat to our country and the
world."

"What I want more than anything is for Joe Biden to act like he
doesn't want Donald Trump to be in office."

A half dozen other Super Tuesday states had a similar push for a
protest vote against Biden. In North Carolina, more than 12% of voters
selected "no preference," while more than 9% did the same in
Massachusetts. "Noncommitted delegate" finished second to Biden in
Colorado's Democratic primary.

The Vote Uncommitted MN campaign launched a week before the primary
and spent $20,000 on digital advertising, voter contact, organizing
and operational costs.

At their watch party Tuesday, they snacked on cookies and nuts,
watching results update on the New York Times' website. Every time the
page updated, they cheered.

Yasmin Hirsi of Apple Valley said she was already disappointed that
Biden had not been able to forgive all student loans or protect
abortion rights. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2022 that there is no
constitutional right to an abortion.

"This is like the breaking point for me," Hirsi said. Right now, she
plans to sit out the November election, though Hirsi worries Muslim
voters will be blamed if Trump wins the general election. She hopes
Biden will shift his policies.

Hirsi knocked on doors for Vote Uncommitted MN on Tuesday, posted
online a lot and talked to her friends and family about the campaign.
Many had not even known there was a presidential primary, much less
that they could vote "uncommitted."

In 2020, "uncommitted" got only 2,612 votes in Minnesota's Democratic
presidential primary, compared with more than 287,000 for Biden and
222,000 for Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said on CNN Wednesday morning
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"these are voters that are deeply concerned, as we all are. The
situation in Gaza is intolerable."

* Democratic primary
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* Minnesota
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* Joe Biden
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* Gaza
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* Vote Uncommitted
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