U.S. President Joe Biden's refusal to do all he can to stop Israel's war on the Gaza Strip has consequences for not only Palestinian civilians in the besieged enclave but also this year's presidential contest in which the Democrat is seeking reelection.
Multiple polls over the past couple of months have shown Biden's approval rating at all-time lows, partly related to how he has handled Israel killing nearly 25,500 people in Gaza—as of Tuesday—in response to the Hamas-led attack on October 7.
Biden last month called out Israel's "indiscriminate bombing" of Gaza and said that "I want them to be focused on how to save civilian lives," but he has also bypassed Congress to arm Israeli forces while asking lawmakers for a $14.3 billion package on top of the United States' $3.8 billion in annual military aid to its Middle East ally.
The president isn't on New Hampshire's Tuesday primary ballot because of a fight between state leaders and the Democratic National Committee, but some Biden supporters are calling on voters to write in his name. Critics of U.S. support for Israel's assault on Gaza are urging voters to send him a message by writing in "cease-fire."
Biden's longshot primary challengers—Marianne Williamson, who notably supports a cease-fire in Gaza, and Congressman Dean Phillips (D-Minn.)—are on New Hampshire's ballot. On the Republican side, former President Donald Trump, the leading candidate despite his legal trouble, is expected to win the GOP primary in the state.
On the eve of the New Hampshire vote, a prominent group in California—where the primary is March 5, or Super Tuesday—announced its members "overwhelmingly voted" to rescind an endorsement of Biden from October due to "widespread outrage and international indignation over the president's handling of the Israel-Gaza conflict."
"Focused on the crisis in Gaza, we condemn President Biden's misguided and perilous actions, and inaction, which undermine the long-term interests of both Israelis and Palestinians," the San Francisco-based Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club said Monday. "While our stance doesn't extend to the November 2024 general elections, we aim to send a powerful signal to President Biden and the Democratic establishment that our base demands to be heard."
The club's president, Jeffrey Kwong, told the San Francisco Chronicle that "yes, this is a precarious time" for the United States, but "this humanitarian crisis has been in our hearts and minds," and rescinding the endorsement is a clear message to Biden.
"We're the rank and file, we're one of the largest Democratic clubs in the state, and you need to listen," Kwong said. "Because we are the ones who will go out and knock on doors, we are the ones who will do phone banks for swing states."
The San Francisco club isn't alone in reconsidering a Biden endorsement. With 3 million members, the National Education Association (NEA) is the largest union in the country, and it endorsed Biden in April—followed by various key labor groups last year.
Now, some rank-and-file members want the NEA to revoke the teachers union's endorsement of Biden until he fights for a permanent cease-fire; stops sending military support to Israel; and uses diplomatic pressure to secure the release of all political prisoners and hostages as well as end Israel's blockade of Gaza, settlement activity in the West Bank, and killing of journalists.
A petition from NEA members behind this push also calls on Biden to commit to demanding that Israel complies with international law and universal principles of human rights as well as fair due process for asylum-seekers and refugees that follows international law.
As Sarah Lazare reported Monday for The Nation and Workday Magazine:
The organizing effort to rescind this endorsement is just getting started, and it's too soon to know what base of support it has. But its backers point to momentum they have already achieved: This same group of members successfully pressed 19 local, state, and regional bodies of the NEA to call for a cease-fire in Gaza, including the National Council of Urban Education Associations, a caucus comprised of 251 large NEA locals and UniServ Councils, which are associations of several locals. And the members behind these resolutions claim credit for NEA President Rebecca Pringle's December 8, 2023, tweet in support of a cease-fire. "With the end of the temporary truce," she wrote, "the need for a cease-fire in Gaza is growing."
And there are at least some supporters of the presidential un-endorsement in NEA's board of directors. Among them is Aaron Phillips, a 41-year-old fifth grade teacher and NEA board member from Amarillo, Texas. "There's a growing group of board members that support it," he said, referring to the effort to revoke the presidential endorsement. "If I were to make a motion, I'm confident I would have a second and would have a growing group of board members stand with me."
After the NEA, the nation's second-largest union is the Service Employees International Union, with nearly 2 million members. The SEIU on Monday became the biggest union in the country to call for a cease-fire in Gaza. The SEIU's lengthy statement advocated action by "elected leaders" but did not mention U.S. support for Israel or the union's April endorsement of Biden.
The SIEU joined a growing labor coalition that also includes the United Auto Workers—which has about 400,000 active members and more than 580,000 retired members and was the previously the largest union to call for a Gaza cease-fire. During a Monday speech at an ongoing conference, UAW president Shawn Fain reiterated the union's position as the crowd chanted "cease-fire now!"
The UAW hasn't yet endorsed Biden for 2024, but he courted union members by historically joining striking workers on the picket line last year before they finalized contracts with the Big Three automakers in Michigan, a swing state with significant Arab and Muslim populations—including U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), the only Palestinian American in Congress.
Fain on Monday criticized Trump, telling reporters that he is "pretty much contrary to everything we stand for," without backing Biden. However, the UAW confirmed on Tuesday that the president is set to address union members at the conference in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, fueling speculation of a forthcoming endorsement.
Daniel Werst, an Indiana-based teacher, former carpenter, and long-term socialist, argued in Left Voice Tuesday that the union endorsement of Biden "would be a betrayal of all of the rank-and-file members who supported the call for a cease-fire. Instead of endorsing bourgeois candidates, the UAW needs to assert its independence from both parties of capital, and work to organize a real resistance to the war on Gaza."
"The UAW should not only call for an end to the war, but it should also oppose U.S. arming of Israel," Werst added. "Autoworkers and all workers need an anti-imperialist and pro-Palestinian movement that brings us into independent, working-class political action—not an official endorsement for Biden, who has forced Palestinians born into a ghetto to live in tents without access to doctors, food, or anesthetic in a war of David and Goliath."
