A prominent Michigan Democrat declined to endorse President Joe Biden’s 2024 reelection bid, sparking fears that he may lose the crucial state that former President Donald Trump carried in 2016. This is the second major loss the president has suffered from his own party this week, as longtime Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) also declined to say whether he was supporting Biden’s reelection.
Dearborn, Michigan Mayor Abdullah H. Hammoud (D) wrote in a recent op-ed that he could not “in good conscience support the continuation of a genocide,” referring to Israel’s current military operations against the terrorist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
“This has weighed heavy on my heart, particularly as the presidential primary election in Michigan has drawn near. “It is for that reason that I will be checking the box for ‘Uncommitted’ on my presidential primary ballot next Tuesday,” Hammoud continued. “In doing so, I am choosing hope,” he wrote.
The mayor said that his “greatest fear is that Mr. Biden will not be remembered as the president who saved American democracy in 2020, but rather as the president who sacrificed it for Benjamin Netanyahu in 2024.”
“My greatest fear is that Mr. Biden will not be remembered as the president who saved American democracy in 2020, but rather as the president who sacrificed it for Benjamin Netanyahu in 2024.”
My piece in the @nytimes. Hope you give it a read. https://t.co/kBkD27SmZ5
— Abdullah H. Hammoud (@AHammoudMI) February 20, 2024
The mayor is backed by a number of other Muslim elected officials in Michigan, which Biden narrowly carried four years ago. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) also called upon Michigan primary voters not to back Biden for president.
The decline in support for Biden among the Arab and Muslim population of the state could weigh heavily on his reelection campaign. Biden won Muslim-Americans over former President Donald Trump by a large margin in 2020.
Late last year a number of prominent Muslim-Americans launched a campaign to reject the president.
This is the way you can raise our voices, to make us even more visible,” Tlaib wrote. “Right now, we feel completely neglected — neglected and just unseen by our government. If you want us to be louder, then come here and vote uncommitted.”
The decline in support in Michigan’s Muslim and Arab population also comes as Biden may be losing support among its Black population. Popular radio host Charlamagne tha God said that he regretted endorsing Biden in 2020.
