President Joe Biden is projected to win Michigan’s Democratic presidential primary comfortably, despite a significant protest vote over his stance towards the war in Gaza.
Activists have spent recent weeks urging Democrats to vote “uncommitted”, and tens of thousands chose to do so.
That exceeded many expectations, though the latest CBS News projection suggests Mr Biden won 80% of the vote overall.
He thanked “every Michigander who made their voice heard today”.
In statement that did not reference the campaign against him, he hailed achievements of his administration in the state and launched an attack against his rival Donald Trump.
Mr Trump is also projected to win Tuesday’s Republican primary in the state, after what he called a “great day”. “We’re going to win big,” he told a campaign celebration event.
Results so far from the primary contests – which the US political parties use to select their presidential candidate – indicate that the two men are on course to face off in November’s general election, in a rematch of 2020.
Michigan is considered a critical swing state, which picked the winning president in the last two contests. It has the largest proportion of Arab-Americans in the country, but Mr Biden’s support for Israel during its military campaign in the Palestinian enclave of Gaza appears to have cost him support among that demographic.
Activists from the group Listen to Michigan hailed the size of the “uncommitted” vote as a victory. People were in tears at the organisation’s watch party as tallies were periodically updated.
Congressman Andy Levin, who supports the “uncommitted” vote, told the crowd: “I take no joy in being here tonight. This moment is a child of necessity because people are dying by the thousands.”
Tuesday does not mark the first time a significant portion of Michiganders opted to cast votes as “uncommitted”. Around 19,000 residents did so in 2020’s primary and more than 21,601 in 2016. In 2008 it was 238,000 – after Barack Obama’s campaign encouraged them to do so, because he chose not to be on the ballot due to party squabbles.
But campaigners in Michigan have been organising for months to send Mr Biden a message of “no ceasefire, no vote” over the war in Gaza.
