Gov. Whitmer nudges Michigan Dems to support Biden despite Tlaib’s push to vote ‘uncommitted’
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer nudged Democrats to back President Biden in her home state’s primary despite efforts by Rep. Rashida Tlaib to convince progressives to vote “uncommitted” in protest of his administration’s support for Israel’s war against Hamas.
Whitmer contended that not voting for Biden would amount to de facto support for former President Donald Trump.
She added that Trump’s potential victory in a general election “would be devastating” for the country.
“We will see differences of opinion,” Whitmer told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. “It’s important not to lose sight of the fact that any vote that’s not cast for Joe Biden supports a second Trump term.”
Earlier this month, “Squad” member Tlaib publicly encouraged her supporters to vote “uncommitted” in Michigan’s Feb. 27 Democratic primary.
Tlaib is the first Palestinian-American woman elected to Congress and is one of two female Muslims currently serving. Her younger sister, activist Layla Elabed, has been leading the “uncommitted” effort via a group named, “Listen to Michigan.”
Tlaib has been outspoken against Biden’s support for Israel’s war in response to Hamas’ bloody Oct. 7 surprise terror attack that killed roughly 1,200 Israelis.
A similar effort took place in New Hampshire, in which progressive critics of Biden wrote in “ceasefire.” Roughly 1.2% of participants or 1,500 voters did so.
Michigan has the largest Arab population of any state in the country, comprising 2.1% of its demographics.
Whitmer, who is believed to be a rising star among Democrats, was uncertain about whether the effort against Biden could gain significant traction in her home state.
“I’m not sure what we’re going to see on Tuesday, to tell you the truth,” she conceded.
The Great Lake State is widely considered to be one of the top general election battleground contests.
Given those dynamics, Whitmer has treaded carefully on the Israel issue.
“Michigan has been so fortunate to be the home of a robust Arab, Muslim, Palestinian community and a robust Jewish community,” she said. “We have lived in harmony as neighbors for decades. And there’s a lot of pain all across all of these communities.”
Biden and his allies have sought to assuage the concerns of Arab and Muslim leaders rankled by his policies in Israel. Several administration officials met with key Arab and Muslim leaders in Michigan earlier this month.
The president has also begun distancing himself from Israel’s ongoing offensive in Gaza and has voiced support for humanitarian intervention.
“I am of the view that the conduct of the response in the Gaza Strip has been over the top,” Biden said at a press conference earlier this month.
National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan reiterated Sunday that the administration is opposed to Israel conducting an operation in the Palestinian town of Rafah located near the Egyptian border, without an adequate plan for civilians.
Rafah has well over an estimated 1 million refugees based there and is proving to be a major sticking point with Israel’s neighbors in the region, particularly Egypt.
Since the war erupted, there have been over 29,000 Palestinian deaths in Gaza, according to local officials on the ground.
Whitmer also slammed Republicans over the Alabama state Supreme Court ruling that frozen embryos can be considered children. The move prompted three providers of in vitro fertilization treatments to halt their operations while sussing out their potential legal liabilities.
Trump and a cacophony of Republicans quickly came out in defense of IVF procedures, which typically involve the combining of a sperm and an egg in a vial before eventually being added to a prospective mother’s uterus.
“Hell, no, it does not,” Whitmer quipped when asked if GOP support for IVF undercuts Democrat arguments that they are opposed to the procedure.
“We have always known that, with the appointments that Donald Trump made to the United States Supreme Court, that IVF, that a woman’s ability to make her own decisions about her body and all the panoply of things that come from that were in jeopardy.”
She also sidestepped a question about whether embryos should count as human beings, countering that “the government should get out of people’s individual personal health care decisions.”
Whitmer has campaigned aggressively on abortion rights in the past and sailed to reelection in 2022. Last year, the state passed a constitutional amendment to enshrine abortion access into law and scrap a 1931 law restricting the procedure.
Vice President Kamala Harris swung through Michigan last week as part of her reproductive rights tour of the country.
