(WWJ) — Entering Tuesday’s primary election in Michigan, Democratic President Joe Biden and Republican challenger Donald Trump were both expected to comfortably win the state. CBS News has projected both candidates will indeed win.
But the lack of drama in terms of a winner doesn’t mean there was nothing on the line Tuesday, as many eyes were on how many “uncommitted” votes Democrats would cast to voice their displeasure with the president’s handling of the Israel-Hamas War.
Biden held a large lead with more than 79% of the vote, compared to just under 15% “uncommitted,” as of 10 p.m. with about 21% of the votes counted.
On the other side, many were watching to see how Republican Nikki Haley, the last remaining GOP candidate, would fare against Trump, entering Tuesday on the heels of defeat in her home state of South Carolina over the weekend by 20%.
As of 10 p.m. the former president held over 66% of the vote, while Haley was at just over 28%, with more than 25% of votes counted.
Ahead of Tuesday’s election several political groups, including Listen Michigan, had been pushing for those unsatisfied with Biden to vote “uncommitted.” The movement, according to Democratic State Rep. Alabas Farhat of Dearborn, goes beyond his city and beyond the Muslim community.
“This is a coalition of Gen Z voters, this is a coalition of Black and brown folks, of Jewish Voices for Peace, of Christians… this is a coalition of folks who feel dissatisfied with the way the president is handling the conflict in the Middle East, where you're seeing 30,000 people have been killed, half of which are women and children,” Farhat told WWJ Tuesday morning.
Farhat said the uncommitted vote would send a “clear message to the president that there are voters who are upset.”
Dave Dulio, professor of political science and Director of the Center for Civic Engagement at Oakland University, said the uncommitted vote could indeed send a message, depending how high into the double digits it climbs.
“If it’s around 10% as the final numbers come in, I think it probably doesn’t mean very much,” Dulio said around 9:15 p.m. as vote-counting was still in the early stages.
“But if it gets up 20%, over 20%, then I think that’s a strong showing because that would be a lot of raw votes that would go into that 20% and I think it would be a clear message that the backers of that movement, like Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib can point to the Biden campaign and say… ‘they’re not happy with your Israel policy,’” Dulio said.
Keith Williams, Chair of the Michigan Democratic Black Caucus, spoke out against the uncommitted campaign, telling WWJ earlier in the day an uncommitted vote was the same as a vote for Trump.
Regardless of the uncommitted vote’s final tally, Dulio said “Michigan is going to be front and center for the rest of this campaign,” with both major party candidates visiting multiple times between now and November.
While Haley made an advertising push in Michigan ahead of the primary, she did not make an appearance in Michigan on Tuesday. Neither Biden nor Trump paid a visit.
Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said Tuesday’s election process across the state was “smooth, secure and successful.”
The SOS noted more than a million votes were cast prior to election day, with mail-in absentee ballots and early, in-person voting.
While overall turnout numbers were not yet available at 9:30 p.m., Benson said around 2,000 people across the state registered to vote and casted ballots on Tuesday.