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.
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140 delegates (117 pledged and 23 unpledged) to the Democratic National Convention | |||||||||||||||||||
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  Biden 70–80% 80–90% | |||||||||||||||||||
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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:
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
- Cabinet-level officials
- Pete Buttigieg, 19th U.S. Secretary of Transportation (2021–present), 32nd Mayor of South Bend, Indiana (2012–2020), candidate for president in 2020
- U.S. Senator
- Gary Peters, U.S. Senator from Michigan (2015–present), U.S. Representative for MI-14 (2013–15) and MI-09 (2009–13)
- U.S. Representatives
- Dan Kildee, U.S. Representative from MI-08 (2013–present)
- Statewide officials
- Gretchen Whitmer, 49th Governor of Michigan (2019–present), Vice Chair of the Democratic National Committee (2021–present)
- Garlin Gilchrist, 64th Lieutenant Governor of Michigan (2019–present)
- Mayors
- Mike Duggan, 75th Mayor of Detroit (2014–present)
- Newspapers
- The Detroit News (co-endorsement with Nikki Haley)
- U.S. Representatives
- Andy Levin, former U.S. Representative from MI-09 (2019–2023)
- Rashida Tlaib, U.S. Representative from MI-12 (2023−present), MI-13 (2019–2023)
- Beto O'Rourke, former U.S. Representative from TX-16 (2013–2019), candidate for president in 2020
- State legislators
- Abraham Aiyash, State Representative from HD-04 (2020–present) and Majority Floor Leader (2023–present)
- Erin Byrnes, State Representative from HD-15 (2023–present)
- Jaime Churches, State Representative from HD-27 (2023–present)
- Emily Dievendorf, State Representative from HD-77 (2023–present)
- Alabas Farhat, State Representative from HD-03 (2023–present)
- Gabriela Santiago-Romero, Detroit City councilmember from District 6 (2022–present)
- Karen Whitsett, State Representative from HD-04 (2018–present)
- Dylan Wegela, State Representative from HD-26 (2023–present)
- Mary D. Waters, at-large Detroit City councilmember (2022–present), and former State Representative from HD-04 (2001–2006)
- Mayors
- Abdullah Hammoud, Mayor of Dearborn (2022–present) and former State Representative from HD-15 (2017–2021)
- Notable individuals
- Nasser Beydoun, former executive director of the Arab American Chamber of Commerce and candidate for U.S. Senate in 2024.
- Michael Moore, left-wing activist and film producer
- Linda Sarsour, political activist and co-chair of the 2017 Women's March
- Newspapers
- Organizations
- State legislators
- Darrin Camilleri, State Senator from SD-04 (2023–present) and former State Representative from HD-23 (2017–2023)
Polling
| Poll source | Date(s) administered | Sample size | Margin of error | Joe Biden | Robert F. Kennedy Jr. | Dean Phillips | Marianne Williamson | Uncommitted | Undecided |
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| Emerson College/The Hill | February 20–24, 2024 | 406 (LV) | – | 74.5% | – | 4.8% | – | 8.8% | 11.9% |
| Williamson suspends her candidacy | |||||||||
| Monmouth University Polling/The Washington Post | December 7–11, 2023 | 460 (LV) | – | 79% | – | 5% | 9% | – | 6% |
| Phillips declares his candidacy | |||||||||
| Kennedy withdraws from the primaries | |||||||||
| Emerson College | August 1–2, 2023 | 1,121 (RV) | ± 2.9% | 65% | 11% | – | 5% | – | 17% |
| Mitchell Research | July 11–13, 2023 | 639 (LV) | ± 4.0% | 75% | 3% | – | 4% | – | 19% |
Results
| Candidate | Votes | Percentage | Actual delegate count | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pledged | Unpledged | Total | |||
| Joe Biden (incumbent) | 625,221 | 81.1% | 115 | 115 | |
| Uncommitted | 101,623 | 13.2% | 2 | 2 | |
| Marianne Williamson (withdrawn) | 22,865 | 3.0% | |||
| Dean Phillips | 20,684 | 2.7% | |||
| Write-in votes | 178 | <0.1% | |||
| Total: | 770,571 | 100% | 117 | 23 | 140 |
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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.[failed verification] However, he recorded his strongest result in the 13th precinct in the eastern part of the city, where a retirement community is located.
See also
Notes
- Partisan clients