(NewsNation) — President Joe Biden will visit Michigan on Thursday in an attempt to shore up support from voters who chose “uncommitted” over him in the state’s primary election.
The president is expected to be met with mixed reception, as some of those voters are still livid with him for not calling for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza.
The White House sent several high-ranking officials to the community last month to meet with Arab American leaders. More than half of the state’s residents are Arab American.
NewsNation was told the meeting was ugly and honest, and the White House leaders were pushed for an immediate cease-fire. The meeting also failed to dissuade the movement of frustrated voters from flooding the polls in the Democratic primary.
In the state’s primary, more than 100,000 voters cast their ballots for “uncommitted” to protest Biden’s support for Israel.
Michigan organizer Lexis Zeidan, who spearheaded that movement, told NewsNation she has nothing else to say to Biden.
“As a president, you have a responsibility to answer to your constituents. And you have gone two weeks now, have not said anything or done anything to address the concerns that we’ve raised, yet you’re coming to the state, again, without having addressed those,” she said. “It just continues to push the narrative that you’re willing to put our democracy or willing to risk our democracy because of your loyalty to Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli government.”
Zeidan said the movement isn’t going anywhere and that they are working with Maryland and Pennsylvania communities on voting uncommitted.
The pressure on Biden has been building to stop military aid to Israel and push to bring the war to a close.
The Biden campaign said lead organizers for the uncommitted movement in Michigan said they planned to support the president in November and that their movement was not anti-Biden.
“The president shares their goal for an end to the violence and a just, lasting peace in the Middle East. He’s working tirelessly to that end,” the Biden administration told NewsNation in a statement.
Biden will be in Saginaw on Thursday for a campaign event. It is unclear if he will be met with more protests upon his arrival.
