Biden’s Pennsylvania Win at Risk as Write-in Votes Surpass 60,000 in Primary
President Joe Biden faces a challenge in Pennsylvania with over 60,000 write-in votes in the Democratic primary. An organized protest campaign against Biden, led by Uncommitted PA, garnered significant support. The movement aims to influence the upcoming election, emphasizing demands for a Gaza ceasefire and changes in U.S. aid policies. The protest signals potential issues for Biden in the November election rematch.
President Joe Biden may have an uphill battle ahead of him in Pennsylvania after the write-in candidate option on the Democratic primary ballot notched over 60,000 votes.
While the list of all the write-in entries has yet to be revealed, an organized protest effort against Biden was launched in the Keystone State that urged voters upset with his handling of the Israel–Hamas war to vote against him.
Uncommitted PA, the group that spearheaded the campaign, set a goal of 40,000 “uncommitted” votes during the primary. The Associated Press had tallied 60,223 total write-in votes with 99% of the vote counted as of Thursday afternoon.
“We are celebrating that massive victory of over 60,000 votes, which have nearly doubled the total of write-ins in 2020, and even more so than the write-ins in 2016,” Rah Noonan, an organizer with Uncommitted PA, told the Washington Examiner.
The coalition mobilized the write-in campaign in roughly one month, launching on March 25 with only volunteer members, a sign of the intense passion girding the movement.
“Additionally, we want to uplift that there were over 120,000 registered Democrats who collectively withheld their votes from Biden,” Noonan continued. “And that number is just inclusive of the write-ins and the Dean Phillip votes. We’re not sure the accurate number of blank votes cast across the state because we don’t have a singular process for recording write-ins or undervotes in Pennsylvania.”
Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN), who ended his 2024 presidential campaign, garnered more than 69,000 votes during Tuesday’s primary in the Keystone State.
The protest votes are a warning sign for Biden as the “Abandon Biden” movement that started during the Michigan primary spread to Super Tuesday states and beyond. The coalition is made up largely of Muslim, Arab, and young Democratic voters angered by the conflict.
The national Uncommitted group estimates it has garnered 500,000 protest votes cast during primaries, Noonan said. And with Tuesday’s results, it’s now up to 560,000 votes in key swing states.
In Pennsylvania, a battleground state that Biden won by 80,000 votes in 2020 and by which 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton lost by 44,000 votes, he can ill afford to disregard disgruntled Democrats ahead of the November election rematch against former President Donald Trump.
But wooing these voters may prove hard for Biden, who has shown reluctance in breaking with Israel over the conflict in the Gaza Strip.
Uncommitted PA advocates four demands: a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, an end to the war in Gaza, reinstatement of humanitarian aid and UNRWA funding, and ending U.S. aid to Israel.
The last demand is in direct conflict with a national security supplemental bill Biden recently signed into law. The legislation provides roughly $95 billion in aid to Taiwan, Israel, Ukraine, and U.S. allies in the Indo-Pacific.
However, the multibillion package also includes $1 billion in food, medical supplies, and water for Gaza.
On Thursday, Biden joined with 17 world leaders and issued a joint statement calling for the immediate release of all hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.
In addition to Biden, leaders from Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Spain, Thailand and the United Kingdom also signed onto the statement.
“We emphasize that the deal on the table to release the hostages would bring an immediate and prolonged ceasefire in Gaza, that would facilitate a surge of additional necessary humanitarian assistance to be delivered throughout Gaza, and lead to the credible end of hostilities,” the leaders said in the statement. “Gazans would be able to return to their homes and their lands with preparations beforehand to ensure shelter and humanitarian provisions.”
A February survey from the left-leaning Data for Progress showed that 57% of those surveyed disapproved of Biden’s handling of the conflict between Israel and Hamas, while 36% approved.
A Politico-Morning Consult poll published earlier in April showed 33% of Democratic voters said Biden was “not tough enough on Israel,” only 8% said Biden was being “too tough,” and 42% of Democrats said his approach was “just right.”
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Whether Biden can win over the protest votes by November is unclear.
“We represent a really broad coalition across the state, politically and ideologically. There are individuals and organizations within Uncommitted PA, who may not mobilize for Biden in November or may not cast their votes for Biden in November,” Noonan added. “If he does not call for a permanent ceasefire and meet the other three demands that brought this whole coalition together.”
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