CONNECTICUT, USA — Voters in four states weighed in Tuesday on their parties' presidential nominees, a largely symbolic vote now that both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump have locked up the Democratic and Republican nominations.
Biden and Trump easily won primaries in Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York and Wisconsin, adding to their delegate hauls for their party conventions this summer.
Their victories, while hardly surprising, nevertheless offer clues about enthusiasm among base voters for the upcoming 2020 rematch that has left a majority of Americans underwhelmed. Biden has faced opposition from activists encouraging Democrats to vote against him to send a message of disapproval for his handling of the war between Israel and Hamas, and some Republican Trump critics are still voting for rivals who have dropped out.
“Uncommitted” in Rhode Island and Connecticut was getting a similar share of the Democratic vote as protest campaigns in Minnesota and Michigan, which got 19% and 13% respectively. In Wisconsin, “uninstructed delegation” was getting a smaller share.
In particular, the tallies in Wisconsin, a pivotal November battleground, will give hints about the share of Republicans who still aren’t on board with Trump and how many Democrats are disillusioned with Biden. Trump campaigned Tuesday in Wisconsin and Michigan, two Midwest battlegrounds.
The war in Gaza began in October 2023 with tens of thousands dead, including seven aid workers with the World Central Kitchen who were killed in an Israeli strike this week.
Leaders from Connecticut who are organizing the movement hope that Democrats and Biden's campaign will understand what citizens, not just in Connecticut but across America, are trying to say.
"The U.S., how it's set up – it comes down to a numbers game," said Basel Alnajjar with the group We Will Return, a Hartford-based Palestinian advocacy group. "We're coming down to who has more votes than who else."
Michigan was the epicenter of the push to vote uncommitted, as the state has the largest Arab-American population in the country. It was also the state that helped propel Biden to victory in 2020. The number of uncommitted votes during their 2024 primary far surpassed the 10,000-vote margin that former President Donald Trump won the state in 2016.
For Biden, voters choosing "uncommitted" could mean he's in significant trouble with parts of the party's base in a state he could hardly afford to lose in November.
"For our Palestinian brothers and sisters who have been suffering for the past 75 years to still no response, to hear no response from our representatives and officials who are supposed to be representing our interests, is an outrage to all of us," said Alnajjar.
Abdul-Razak Osmanu, who serves on Hamden's Legislative Council, District 3, is also pushing back on how Connecticut taxpayers' money is being used to fund "international war" and that the support in calling for a ceasefire is not limited to Arab and Muslim voters.
"We've seen nationwide, while many Muslim and Arab voters have used uncommitted to take part in their state's presidential primary, the movement and turnout has exceeded these populations," said Osmanu.
Alnajjar said that outside of the voting booth, people across the country have shown up at protests and are pushing back on decisions lawmakers and the president are making when it comes to Gaza, the West Bank, and Israel.
"You look at these protests and see these events, you see African American people leading these movements, you see Hispanic people leading these movements, you see Asian, Caucasian – and because of that, you can see Palestine is not about politics, about religion, about foreign affairs," said Alnajjar. "The Palestinian issue is a humanity issue. We're asking people whether they stand with humanity or not."
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Jennifer Glatz is a digital content producer at FOX61 News. She can be reached at jglatz@fox61.com.
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