Minnesota “uncommitted” protest vote exceeds expectations, surpasses support for U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips

MINNEAPOLIS — Almost 45,000 Minnesota Democrats voted for “uncommitted” instead of President Joe Biden during the presidential primary, according to unofficial results of nearly all precincts Tuesday night — an effort to protest the Israel-Hamas war and put political pressure on the White House to call for a permanent cease-fire in Gaza.

RELATED: Biden, Trump projected to win Minnesota presidential primary

That support surpassed the 7.8% of Democrats who cast ballots for Minnesota’s own U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips, who launched a longshot campaign against Biden.

Minnesota organizers pushing the “uncommitted” movement said turnout exceeded expectations and claimed victory in achieving their goal: to send the Biden administration a message that voters are unhappy with his position on the war.

“We’re doing this so President Biden knows that Democrats have had enough of this endless support for a genocidal regime,” Asma Mohammed, a lead organizer for Uncommitted Minnesota. “Today we are showing him that Minnesota is on the side of justice and humanity.”

In 2020, Uncommitted received about 2,600 votes. The group didn’t set a threshold they sought to clear before going into Super Tuesday, but celebrated the turnout that will likely yield delegates for the national convention in August.

RELATED: The protest voting option against Biden is spreading

Mohammed and other activists called and door-knocked to reach thousands of voters over the weekend, encouraging them to support the movement. It follows a similar effort in Michigan, where 100,000 voters checked the box for uncommitted in the Democratic presidential primary there. Other states also had this choice on their ballots Tuesday.  

“I want to send President Joe Biden a very strong message that the way he’s handling this is atrocious,” said Uncommitted voter Bethany Waldron. “He needs to listen to his constituents and the American people. We don’t want to see a genocide happening.”