Palestinian and Muslim community organizers are urging Democratic voters to protest President Joe Biden in Tuesday’s Illinois primary election, sending a message of disapproval of his administration’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war.
The push comes after similar efforts in Michigan and Minnesota shook Biden’s reelection campaign, with more than 150,000 voters choosing to vote “uncommitted” over the president in those states’ primaries.
“Uncommitted” isn’t a ballot option in Illinois, so groups are instead calling voters to either leave the presidential ticket blank or write in “Gaza.” The Chicago area is home to the largest Palestinian population in the U.S.
“Our goal is to turn out 200,000 Muslim, Arab, and ally voters in Illinois — the state with the largest per capita Muslim population in the nation,” read a flyer from the Muslim Civic Coalition, a Chicago-based advocacy group that is encouraging Muslim citizens to register to vote and participate in elections.
“We need a new generation of leaders in our nation,” the group wrote. “It felt like the President did not see many Americans [in his State of the Union address] — and we want to make sure he knows he needs us.”
But it’s unclear how big of a dent the campaign will make in Illinois — or if the result will even be discernible.
Illinois State Board of Elections spokesman Matt Dietrich said the only votes that are counted are for candidates certified to be on the ballot or candidates who filed by a notice of intent to be a write-in candidate by Jan. 18.
“So there would be no record of things that are written in, messages and those sorts of things,” Dietrich said.
“I suppose if you’re voting in a primary and you leave a candidate’s name blank, that could be interpreted as a protest vote against that candidate,” he said. “But really there’s nothing that indicates it — it just means you didn’t cast a vote.”
But the unrest could surface in a lower overall vote total for Biden, according to Ahmed Rehab, executive director of the Chicago chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a nonprofit that doesn’t make political endorsements.
“It’s the differential that counts. For an incumbent, that’s significant to be able to gauge opposition,” Rehab said.
“General elections are not to be taken for granted, there’s the popular vote and a mandate that a leader walks in with. There is unrest in the base, and it goes well beyond the Muslim and Arab communities. It goes to the African Americans, Latinos, white progressives, young people,” Rehab said.
The Biden administration has appeared to recognize the growing split among Democrats over the war, particularly in Palestinian, Arab and Muslim communities angry with billions of dollars in U.S. military aid going to Israel despite mounting destruction in Gaza.
The war began after Hamas’ surprise attack Oct. 7 on Israel. Nearly 1,200 people were killed in the attack, and another 250 taken hostage. Since then, Israeli airstrikes has killed more than 31,000 Palestinians, the majority of whom are women and children, while Israeli blockades have prevented sufficient food and aid from reaching a population heading toward famine, humanitarian groups have said.
In an effort to bridge that divide, the White House sent senior officials to the Chicago area last week to speak with Palestinian, Arab and Muslim community leaders ahead of the Illinois primary.
But the majority of invitees rebuffed the administration, writing in a letter “there is no point in more meetings” after Palestinian Americans have made their views “abundantly clear.”
“With a genocide that has flattened Gaza, forcibly displacing 85% of its residents, and claiming the lives of 31,000 people, 13,000 of whom are children, the White House has not only refused to call for a cease-fire, but also enabled this blatant campaign of ethnic cleansing to take place by providing financial and military means, as well as diplomatic support at the United Nations.”
“A meeting of the minds is nowhere in sight,” the letter stated. Israel has said its main aim is to destroy Hamas and secure the return of the hostages Hamas still holds.
White House and Biden campaign officials were similarly rejected by officials in Michigan last month, which is home to the country’s largest Muslim population.
Contributing: Violet Miller
