(NewsNation) — Although some Democratic primary voters in Michigan were able to deny President Joe Biden two of the state’s 117 delegates, a former congressman says he can still win them back in the November general election.
“People are very upset about the war in Gaza,” Andy Levin, who served as a U.S. representative for Michigan from 2019 to 2023, said on “NewsNation Now” Wednesday. “They told the president, ‘We put you in there in 2020. We need you to change course in order to reelect you.'”
Added Levin, “This is the message to the president: Don’t just give us rhetoric or send great surrogates here or do nice advertisements. We actually need a policy change in order to get you reelected.”
Activists, before the primary, pushed for people to fill in the “uncommitted” slot on their ballots to protest Biden’s support for Israel. In total, about 13% of Democratic voters chose to be “uncommitted” in the election Tuesday.
Democratic National Committee rules state that any candidate — including the “uncommitted” option — is eligible to win delegates if they get at least 15% of the statewide vote or 15% of the vote in any congressional district.
With about 17% of the vote in both the 6th and 12th Congressional Districts, there will now be two “uncommitted” Michigan delegates at the Democratic National Convention this summer in Chicago.
“Working within the realm of what (Israeli Prime Minister) Bibi Netanyahu is willing to do will never work because that person has been against Palestinian self-determination his whole career. He’s never been for a just peace,” Levin said. “The president needs to go beyond that now and speak directly to the Israeli people and the Palestinian people and say, ‘This is now you’re undermining U.S. national security interests. The whole region is aflame.'”
Israel’s bombardment of Gaza has killed nearly 30,000 Palestinians, according to the Associated Press, which cited the Hamas-run Health Ministry. Violence has surged against Palestinians in the West Bank as well since Oct. 7, when Hamas militants stormed into Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking about 250 others hostage.
The war has caused a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, with much of the area’s population now displaced and facing starvation.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.