A Shocking Number Of Minnesota Democrats Cast ‘Uncommitted’ Ballots

More than 45,000 voters cast their ballots for "uncommitted"  – over twice the number who voted for Biden challenger Rep. Dean Phillips in his home state.

Nearly 20% of Minnesota Democratic voters opted to vote “uncommitted” in Tuesday’s presidential primary, as efforts gain momentum to send a message to President Joe Biden about his backing of Israel amid the soaring civilian casualties in its war in Gaza.

More than 45,000 voters cast their ballots for “uncommitted” ― over twice the number of those voting for Biden challenger Rep. Dean Phillips (Minn.), who received a little fewer than 19,000 votes. Last week, Michigan similarly registered 100,000 “uncommitted” votes, more than 13% of the total turnout, against Biden.

For the past several months, various groups have pledged not to vote for Biden due to his staunch support for Israeli forces that have killed more than 30,000 Palestinians ― including tens of thousands of women and children ― following an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas militants in which some 1,200 people were killed in Israel and roughly another 250 were taken hostage.

Minnesota’s “uncommitted” campaign launched on Feb. 26 with a budget of $20,000 dedicated to voter outreach. Their goal was to reach 5,000 voters. More than 45,000 voters turned out, qualifying the group to send at least one delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August.

“I did not expect that number. We believed that we were successful if we managed 2-3%, and I thought that it would be an exceptional victory if we matched Michigan,” said Hassan Abdel Salam, a human rights professor at the University of Minnesota and one of the founders of the Abandon Biden campaign. “This was an extraordinary result. This was a testament to all the hard work of our campaigners and organizers making this victory a manifest, even if unexpected, reality.”