After Joe BidenThe Democrats’ poor performance in the debates and calls from some leading Democrats for him to be replaced have taken on new meaning in the US presidential race for the hundreds of thousands of anti-war voters and the representatives who represent them.
More than 700,000 voters cast ballots in the Democratic primary for “not yet committed” options after a movement emerged in Michigan to pressure Biden to call for a ceasefire in Gaza and end US funding and arming of the Israeli government.
These voters won 29 uncommitted delegates to the Democratic National Convention, a small but vocal group who will use their position at the nominating convention to call for an end to the war. The uncommitted vote is made up of likely Democratic voters who have consistently said they are anti-Trump and who have used the primary process to send a message to Biden.
Their message hasn’t changed, though unengaged delegates said they’ve heard from more people since last week’s debate about the role they could play in the convention. Their sole platform remains a permanent ceasefire and an arms embargo, and their focus is still on Biden — who is still president.
“People are saying, ‘You have 10 times the power you had before,’” said Asma Mohammed, a non-committed DNC delegate from Minnesota and one of the organizers behind the non-committed action there.
“The way I looked at it was we always had power. Our story has always been powerful and we have over 700,000 voters that we’ve connected with who previously simply wouldn’t show up or didn’t know how to engage in this election.”
The noncommitment movement quickly spread to several states, gaining steam from voters who wanted to make their disapproval of U.S. involvement in the war known and who were otherwise unwilling to commit to Biden, even though they did not support Trump and did not want him to win. After Michigan, it saw strong showings in Minnesota, Hawaii and Washington.
During the campaign, Uncommitted leaders consistently said they would support Biden if he met their anti-war demands. They have reiterated that offer now, at a time when Biden needs all the support he can get.
“We are not basing our advocacy on whether President Biden decides to remain a candidate,” said Abbas Alawieh, spokesman for the Uncommitted National Movement and a non-committed DNC delegate from Michigan. “Regardless of whether he decides to remain a candidate, he will be president until January 2025, and we want him to stop supplying weapons long before then.”
Since the movement began, Biden has called for a ceasefire in Gaza. But Alawieh said: “If the president is serious about delivering a ceasefire, he needs to stop delivering the weapons that are preventing a ceasefire.”
The non-committed movement has heard from delegates across the country who are aligned with Biden and sympathetic to his anti-war platform. The non-committed delegates hope to work with them at the DNC to show the president — or another potential nominee — that the party’s base does not support U.S. funding of the war, Alawieh said.
The Uncommitted National Movement is open to the idea of an open convention if that proves to be a viable option. However, it does not endorse any specific candidate. Any candidate seeking its support would have to agree to an arms embargo.
They have offered Biden, through contacts in his campaign, at the DNC and in the White House, that they will mobilize voters for him if he implements an arms embargo. It would be “an opportunity for us to unite in saving lives now and in preventing Donald Trump from entering the White House again,” Alawieh said.
They haven’t heard from Biden’s camp yet, but hope to.
Mohammed said she and other Democrats are worried they will lose voters in November, that people simply won’t show up. Biden could become the candidate disengaged voters want by using his power to push for an end to the war, which could change his prospects.
A new candidate brings other challenges, like name recognition. There’s no easy path forward. Mohammed believes Biden will remain the nominee, which strengthens the case for continuing to pressure him in the war. And she thinks he can still win if he can bring in disengaged voters.
“I think we still have to push him to get better. Because right now half the nation is disappointed.”
