US President Joe Biden is expected to sweep Minnesota's Democratic primary on Super Tuesday, but some suburban women and Jewish activists are joining Muslim Americans in a “non-committal” protest vote over his Israel policy, interviews with voters show.
Biden (81 years old) is suffering from anger and an increasing and organized violent reaction from some members of his party because of his strong support for Israel, as the US ally’s attacks on Gaza led to a humanitarian catastrophe and killed more than 30,000 people. Israel is responding to attacks by Hamas on October 7 that left 1,200 people dead and hundreds of hostages taken.
Demonstrators demand a ceasefire outside the White House.credit: AP
The hastily organized “uncommitted” voting campaign in Minnesota comes after more than 100,000 people joined a similar protest in Michigan's Democratic primary. Organizers say they don't expect it to attract the same 13 percent of the total vote, or about one in eight, as Michigan did.
Reuters interviews showed that she has support from a wide range of Democrats in and around Minneapolis and St. Paul.
Walter Fromm, 26, a Minneapolis activist who describes himself as an “anti-Zionist Jew,” said his grassroots group Take Action Minnesota supports the “non-committal” campaign.
“I have connected with my entire Jewish community here in the Twin Cities,” he said, as well as with my friends across the United States. “We need a permanent ceasefire now. We need aid, restoration and support for the 1.9 million starving Palestinians in Gaza.”
Frum predicts that the “uncommitted” movement, which is organizing in Georgia and Pennsylvania, among other battleground states, will “continue to grow…state by state and continue to win delegates.”
While the general election pits party against party, the primary is a space for Democrats “to hold our side accountable, to really listen to what the people want,” said Charlie Bartlett, 27, a development associate at a literary arts nonprofit. , who said she would vote is available in Richfield, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis.
Reuters
