2024 Michigan Democratic presidential primary

The 2024 Michigan Democratic presidential primary was held on February 27, 2024, as part of the Democratic Party primaries for the 2024 presidential election. 140 delegates to the Democratic National Convention 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" 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, Muslim, young and progressive voters protesting Biden over his handling of the Israel–Hamas war. 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
Dean Phillips
Marianne Williamson
Uncommitted

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 and free to support any candidate they chose. Numerous activists and elected officials, including Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud and House Representative Rashida Tlaib, campaigned for voters to select the uncommitted option in protest of Biden's handling of the Israel–Hamas war. Some Armenian Americans also suggested voting uncommitted over Biden's actions involving the 2023 Azerbaijani offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh.

In response, the advocacy group Democratic Majority for Israel ran ads arguing that voting "uncommitted" would weaken Biden and support Donald Trump. Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer 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.