The 2024 Michigan Democratic presidential primary was held on February 27, 2024, as part of the

Democratic Party primaries This is a list of Democratic Party presidential primaries. 1912 This was the first time that candidates were chosen through primaries. New Jersey Governor Woodrow Wilson ran to become the nominee, and faced the opposition of Speaker of the Un ...

for the

2024 presidential election This is a list of elections that were held in 2024. The National Democratic Institute also maintains a calendar of elections around the world. *2024 United Nations Security Council election *2024 national electoral calendar *2024 local electoral ...

. 140 delegates to the

Democratic National Convention The Democratic National Convention (DNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 18 ...

will be allocated to presidential candidates. The contest took place concurrently with its Republican counterpart. Despite Biden winning in a landslide, he faced a challenge from "

uncommitted Uncommitted, may refer to: * Uncommitted (song), recorded by South Korean singer XIA *Uncommitted (voting option) "Uncommitted" is a voting option in some United States presidential primaries. This option is listed along with the names of individ ...

" in an otherwise generally uncontested primary season. It was the first entity to win delegates outside of Biden that primary season, and won over 100,000 votes. The campaign's performance was attributed to

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

, young and progressive voters protesting Biden over his handling of the

Gaza war The Gaza war is an armed conflict in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel fought since 7 October 2023. A part of the unresolved Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Israeli–Palestinian and Gaza–Israel conflict, Gaza–Israel conflicts dating ...

. The uncommitted vote in Michigan inspired similar protest votes in other states, eventually becoming a national movement.

Candidates

The Michigan Secretary of State identified the following candidates (listed alphabetically) as Democratic Party presidential candidates in 2024: *

Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

Dean Phillips Dean Benson Phillips ( Pfefer; born January 20, 1969) is an American politician, businessman, philanthropist, and former presidential candidate who served from 2019 to 2025 as the U.S. representative for . A member of the Democratic Party, Phi ...

Marianne Williamson Marianne Deborah Williamson (born July 8, 1952) is an American author, speaker, and political activist. She began her professional career as a spiritual leader of the Church of Today, a Unity Church in Warren, Michigan. Williamson has written s ...

Uncommitted Uncommitted, may refer to: * Uncommitted (song), recorded by South Korean singer XIA *Uncommitted (voting option) "Uncommitted" is a voting option in some United States presidential primaries. This option is listed along with the names of individ ...

Williamson suspended her campaign on February 8, following the Nevada primary. However, she was still listed on the ballot, and after finishing ahead of Phillips, she re-entered the race.

Campaign for "uncommitted"

In addition, an 'uncommitted' option appeared on the ballot. Any "uncommitted" delegate awarded to the Democratic National Convention would essentially be an "unpledged"

superdelegate In American politics, a superdelegate is a delegate to a presidential nominating convention who is seated automatically. In Democratic National Conventions, superdelegates—described in formal party rules as the party leaders and electe ...

and free to support any candidate they chose. Numerous activists and elected officials, including Dearborn Mayor

Abdullah Hammoud Abdullah H. Hammoud (; born March 19, 1990) is an American politician serving as the 7th mayor of Dearborn, Michigan, since 2022. A member of the Democratic Party, Hammoud had previously served in the Michigan House of Representatives, repres ...

and House Representative

Rashida Tlaib Rashida Harbi Tlaib ( ; born July 24, 1976) is an American lawyer and politician serving as a U.S. representative from Michigan since 2019, representing the state's 12th congressional district since 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, sh ...

, campaigned for voters to select the uncommitted option in protest of Biden's handling of the

. Some

Armenian Americans Armenian Americans () are citizens or residents of the United States who have total or partial Armenian ancestry. They form the second largest community of the Armenian diaspora after Armenians in Russia. The first major wave of Armenian immig ...

also suggested voting uncommitted over Biden's actions involving the

2023 Azerbaijani offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh Between 19 and 20 September 2023, Azerbaijan launched a large-scale military offensive against the political status of Nagorno-Karabakh, self-declared breakaway state of Republic of Artsakh, Artsakh, a move seen as a violation of the 2020 Nago ...

. In response, the advocacy group Democratic Majority for Israel ran ads arguing that voting "uncommitted" would weaken Biden and support

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

. Michigan governor

Gretchen Whitmer Gretchen Esther Whitmer (; born August 23, 1971) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the 49th governor of Michigan since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, she served in the Michigan House of R ...

stated that although she acknowledges the "pain" people feel about the war, she still encouraged people to vote for Biden because "any vote that's not cast for Joe Biden supports a second Trump term".

Endorsements

Polling

Results

To win delegates, a candidate must receive over 15% of votes statewide or in any congressional district. "Uncommitted" votes accounted for 17.1% of the votes in the 6th district and 17.3% in the 12th district, winning a delegate each from both districts. "Uncommitted" won a majority in Dearborn, as well as in the cities of Hamtramck and Dearborn Heights. All three cities have a significant Arab American and Muslim population, which has been seen as a cause of Biden's defeat. Biden performed well in the western part of the city, but suffered a defeat in more heavily Muslim East Dearborn. However, he recorded his strongest result in the 13th precinct in the eastern part of the city, where a retirement community is located.

Notes

Partisan clients

References

{{2024 Democratic presidential primaries

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

Democratic primary This is a list of Democratic Party presidential primaries. 1912 This was the first time that candidates were chosen through primaries. New Jersey Governor Woodrow Wilson ran to become the nominee, and faced the opposition of Speaker of the Un ...

Michigan Democratic primary Michigan Democratic primaries