Michigan Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer said she expects many voters to check the “uncommitted” box in her party’s presidential primary on Tuesday.
Whitmer appeared on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” as Michigan voters headed to the polls to select their preference for the Democratic presidential nominee. While President Joe Biden is expected to be the clear winner over Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN) in the Democratic contest, his numbers will likely be hampered as the state’s large Muslim population has expressed frustration with Biden’s handling of the war between Israel and Hamas. Michigan is home to around 200,000 Muslim voters, a demographic that largely supports Democrats.
The Michigan governor, who is also a co-chair of the Biden-Harris re-election campaign, began her segment by emphasizing the importance of the swing state’s diverse voter base, adding that the 2024 election would be close in Michigan.
“Today, I anticipate that we will see a sizable number of people vote uncommitted,” Whitmer said. “As we know, our huge Arab, Palestinian, and Muslim communities are going to voice some of their opinions with regard to how we’re handling what’s happening over in Gaza and Israel.”
“We also have a robust Jewish community here, and these are two very important communities that have lived in harmony in this state for decades,” she added. “And there’s a lot of people who are hurting.”
Earlier this month, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) — a Muslim who was censured by the U.S. House for her anti-Semitic comments — called for her constituents to “vote uncommitted” as a way to protest Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war.
“We don’t want a country that supports wars and bombs and destruction. We want to support life. We want to stand up for every single life killed in Gaza,” Tlaib said.
“This is the way you can raise our voices, to make us even more visible,” she added later. “Right now, we feel completely neglected and just unseen by our government. If you want us to be louder, then come here and vote uncommitted.”
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Whitmer’s admission that she expects Muslim voters to heed Tlaib’s call comes after the governor encouraged Democrats in Michigan to back the president, arguing that “any vote that’s not cast for Joe Biden supports a second Trump term.”
Trump currently leads the president in polling in the swing state by five points, according to the RealClearPolitics polling average. Biden took Michigan in 2020, coming in 154,000 votes ahead of Trump, who won the state over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton by just over 10,000 votes in 2016.