NYT: Uncommitted Effort to Protest Biden Shifts Focus to WA

By Reid J. Epstein and Mike Baker

Like in Michigan, which has a large Arab American population, and Minnesota, where there is a significant population of East African immigrants and their children, the Washington State effort is counting on Middle Eastern immigrants and progressives to serve as a moral voice against America’s foreign policy alliance with Israel.

Rami Al-Kabra, a Palestinian-American who is a City Council member in the Seattle suburb of Bothell, said activists have been reaching out to immigrant communities and others who have expressed disillusionment with Democrats.

Some, he said, had thrown away their mail ballots, feeling like they did not have a voice. But after learning of the option to vote “uncommitted,” they have requested replacement ballots to submit.

“It gives them hope that they can make an impact and let the president and party hear their voice,” he said. “The snowball is growing.”

The effort in Washington State received a key endorsement last week from one of the state’s largest labor unions, a part of the United Food and Commercial Workers, which represents 50,000 supermarket employees. On Tuesday, a Seattle chapter of the American Federation of Teachers also endorsed the “uncommitted” campaign.

But with Washington conducting its elections entirely by mail, the late push that helped “uncommitted” efforts in Michigan and Minnesota may not have the same effect. More than 855,000 primary ballots have already been returned, according to data from the Washington Secretary of State. In 2020, about half of the state’s primary ballots were returned in the final week before the primary.

…Yet progressives in Washington State argue that discontent over the Gaza conflict makes it more difficult for Mr. Biden to sell his accomplishments on the economy and warn voters about the danger of Mr. Trump returning to the White House.

“If we don’t have a cease-fire, I think his time runway is very short for being able to make a dramatic shift in policy,” said Representative Pramila Jayapal of Washington State, the leader of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. “Gaza is the doorway to being able to talk about anything else.”