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Asma Mohammed played a key part in organizing the Democratic protest vote of President Joe Biden, upset over his administration’s inability to slow or stop deadly airstrikes by Israel in Gaza in retaliation for a brutal Hamas incursion months earlier.

She and 10 others gained spots in Minnesota’s Democratic National Convention delegation — the most of any state — to bring that protest to the party alongside delegates from other states. It didn’t elicit a policy change she was hoping for with new presidential nominee Kamala Harris.

Now, with Election Day less than a month away, Mohammed feels powerless.

“I will be voting for the first time in my life, third party at the top of the ticket,” Mohammed said while adding she’ll be voting for Democrats down ballot. “If people ask me, I think if you’re in a blue state, I think it’s really safe to say that you’re not going to impact the results of the race.”

Other delegates are trying to make up their minds. Some say they’re voting third party or will leave the top of the ballot blank.

As these voters in Minnesota decide their course, it’s clear the impact of holdouts could be more detrimental for the Democrats in other battleground states — Michigan primarily because of its large Arab-American population and tight race — where it could tip things in Trump’s favor.

Mohammed was the campaign manager for the Minnesota Uncommitted movement when 19 percent of Democratic voters — about 46,000 – voted uncommitted in the March 5 primary. She and others organized quickly following the Feb. 27 primary in Michigan that started off the protest.

While the amount of uncommitted delegates was miniscule compared to the more than 3,800 delegates who eventually backed Harris, Mohammed and other delegates say the work they did was important because there were a lot of primary voters she said who didn’t feel like they had a voice.

“I’ll be voting for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz,” delegate Sam Doten said. “I don’t feel good about it.”

Doten has been active in organizing for Democrats in past campaigns but says he can’t bring himself to do the same for the Harris campaign. 

“I’m talking about hitting doors, talking to all my friends, encouraging them to vote for this ticket. They’ve made it impossible for me to put in that work and take that position,” Doten said.

The delegates are clear they don’t want former President Donald Trump back in the White House but some are wrestling how to vote.

“I have started to have to have some of those conversations as people have been reaching out to me,” said delegate Dan Engelhart. “It’s just hard. I can’t tell people to do something that I’m not ready to do. It seems like there will be no change.”

Meanwhile, leaders of the national uncommitted movement are not endorsing Harris, Trump or third-party options. A separate group under the banner of “Abandon Harris” has endorsed third-party options.

“You have to come out, you have to declare that you’re going to vote for the independent party, or maybe even leave the ballot empty,” said Jaylani Hussein, a Minnesota organizer with Abandon Harris. 

Taher Herzallah is a Minnesota Ph.D. student with family in Gaza. Before Gov. Tim Walz was selected as Harris’ running mate, Herzallah and others with relatives in Gaza met with the governor’s staff. While they had hoped to speak with Walz, he did not attend. 

Herzallah said he’s not voting for Harris and can’t forgive the Democratic ticket for what’s transpired over the last year. 

“On Nov. 6, we’ll be able to say ‘We told you so’ in the event that you know Donald Trump or somebody else wins the presidency,” Herzallah said. He is on the ballot himself this year for a nonpartisan spot on the Anoka County Board of Commissioners.

But Emgage, one of the nation’s largest Muslim American voter mobilization groups, is endorsing Harris and Walz. The governor joined a virtual summit last week.

“The vice president is working every day to ensure that, to make sure Israel’s secure [and] the hostages are home,” Walz said. “The suffering in Gaza ends now, and the Palestinian people realize the right to dignity, freedom and self determination.”

Matt Grossman, a political scientist at Michigan State University, said the uncommitted movement has been successful in raising attention and mobilizing Democrats around the U.S. approach in the Middle East.

“That just doesn’t necessarily translate into actual changes in U.S. foreign policy, especially when there’s a long standing alliance that they’re trying to disrupt and a lot of mobilizing on the other side as well,” he said.

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Minnesota sent the most “uncommitted” delegates to the Democratic National Convention in protest of President Joe Biden’s stance toward Israeli’s military actions in Gaza. Now, with current Vice President Kamala Harris atop the ticket but tied to the prior administration’s policies, those voters face hard choices at the ballot box.

Minnesota’s ‘uncommitted’ voters go into election unsatisfied over lack of cease-fire, conflicted over Harris

Ben Hovland | MPR News

a person stands in front of a sign that reads abandon harris

Minnesota’s ‘uncommitted’ voters go into election unsatisfied over lack of cease-fire, conflicted over Harris

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