- Tens of thousands of Democratic voters cast "uncommitted" ballots against Biden on Super Tuesday.
- It's a sign that the movement has expanded beyond Michigan, where it's especially important.
It's not just "Listen to Michigan" anymore.
On Super Tuesday, hundreds of thousands of Democratic voters in states across the country declined to vote for President Joe Biden, casting "uncommitted" votes or something similar instead. It's part of an effort by pro-Palestinian and progressive activists to force Biden to change course on Israel and bring a permanent cease-fire to the conflict.
Across several states, the uncommitted vote share easily dwarfed that of Biden's long shot primary challengers, Marianne Williamson and Rep. Dean Phillips.
In Phillip's home state of Minnesota, nearly 46,000 voters had cast "uncommitted" votes, accounting for 18.9% of the vote, as of Wednesday morning.
Not only did that far exceed Phillips' nearly 19,000 votes, but it roughly matched Hillary Clinton's 44,600 vote margin of victory over former President Donald Trump in the state in 2016.
In North Carolina, over 88,000 people voted "no preference" in the Democratic primary, accounting for 12.7% of the vote.
That's on top of more than 55,000 "no preference" votes in Massachusetts and more than 43,000 "uncommitted" votes in Colorado, along with thousands more in other states.
North Carolina, Colorado, and even Minnesota could be competitive states in the general election.
At the very least, it's a sign that the "uncommitted" campaign has gone national, with Democratic voters in states beyond Michigan willing to cast protest votes against the incumbent president.
But at the same time, it's unclear how much of a threat this campaign will have in the general election in these states. For example, more than 200,000 North Carolina Democratic primary voters cast "uncommitted" ballots against President Barack Obama in 2012.
Nonetheless, the Biden campaign will have to take the effort seriously — particularly in Michigan, where many of the "uncommitted" voters are Arab-Americans with urgent concerns about the war in Gaza.
"The President believes making your voice heard and participating in our democracy is fundamental to who we are as Americans," said Biden campaign spokeswoman Lauren Hitt. "He shares the goal for an end to the violence and a just, lasting peace in the Middle East. He's working tirelessly to that end."