March 6, 2024 (EIRNS)—As expected, Republican candidate Donald Trump won in 14 of the 15 states that held primaries on Super Tuesday, losing Vermont to Nikki Haley. Given that Vermont was her only win, in addition to Washington, D.C. earlier, Haley announced this morning that she was suspending her campaign (see separate slug). Biden also won in all the Democratic primaries, except American Samoa where he was beaten by a young unknown Democrat from Maryland, Jason Palmer.
What is unnerving the Biden campaign is the number of “uncommitted” or “no preference” votes registered in several states, following the pattern of last week’s Michigan primary which garnered 101,000 votes or 13.3% in that category. That percentage in Michigan was attributed to the state’s large Arab-American population. In Minnesota yesterday, “uncommitted” outdid Michigan with 20% of the vote. Organizers explained they had just organized for a week and spent only $20,000. In this case, according to the New York Times, the vote came from Muslim-Americans but also from “young progressives,” and this latter category worries Biden as this is a sector of the electorate he is counting on for support.
Layla Elabed, a campaign manager for Listen to Michigan, which organized the uncommitted vote in the Michigan primary, told NBC News last night that “tonight, Minnesota proved to the country that the ‘Uncommitted’ movement is not going away nor is it slowing down.”
