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Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan speaks during a House Financial Services Committee hearing on February 14, 2024 in Washington, DC.
CNN
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Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib, an outspoken critic of President Joe Biden's handling of the Israel-Hamas war, is calling on residents to vote “irresponsibly” in Michigan's primary.
“We feel completely ignored and ignored by our government. If you want your voice to be heard louder, come here and vote irresponsibly,” she said, becoming the first Palestinian American woman to congress. said Tlaib, now a member of Congress. Video posted Listen to Michigan Saturday on X.
Biden is grappling with growing dissatisfaction within his party over his handling of the conflict between Israel and Hamas, with chants of “Massacre Joe” and “ceasefire now” echoing on the campaign trail. Michigan has the nation's largest concentration of Arab-American and Muslim populations, and Democrats believe it will be critical to victory in 2020, in a battleground state that is expected to be close again in 2020. , there are concerns that alienating this key group could be damaging to the president. November.
Mr. Tlaib, a liberal firebrand who represents parts of Detroit and its suburbs, has previously accused Mr. Biden of supporting “genocide” of Palestinians, and has expressed concern about Mr. Biden's response to the war during his re-election bid. He warned that Americans would remember how they responded.
“Mr. President, the American people do not agree with you on this,” Tlaib said in a November video, adding, “They will remember in 2024.”
The “Listen to Michigan” campaign is made up of more than 30 Michigan state employees who have vowed to vote “irresponsibly” in the state's presidential primary on February 27 to urge Biden to support a ceasefire. has been done.
“It's also important to create voting blocs,” Tlaib said in a video Saturday. “Enough saying it out loud. We don't want a country that supports wars and bombs and destruction. We want to support livelihoods. I want to stand up.”
Administration officials met with Michigan leaders this month to quell the uproar in key parts of the president's coalition over his support for Israel's war and his reluctance to publicly call for a ceasefire.
Some Arab American leaders have expressed dissatisfaction with what they're hearing, and a spokesperson for Listen to Michigan said the group is “against the Biden administration's call for an immediate ceasefire that will save lives.” We also encountered failures.”
CNN's Michael Williams and Camila DeCharles contributed to this report.
