President Joe Biden will not have the backing of a prominent Democratic official in a crucial Michigan battleground county this election cycle, highlighting enthusiasm issues for Biden within his party just months before the election.
Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel (D) told Detroit News columnist Noal Finley Monday that he does not plan to vote in the presidential election because he dislikes Biden and former President Donald Trump.
“I don’t have an interest in voting for president, and I feel disappointed by that,” he said. “I dislike both candidates. All they do is talk negative about each other, instead of talking about themselves and their ideas.”
Democratic consultant Adolph Mongo told Finley that Hackel’s decision “hurts Biden” and “Democrats will have to put a lot more resources” into Macomb County. He also cited Hackel’s moderate stance as a reason for his lack of support for Biden or Trump.
Macomb County, located in the southeast part of the state, is Michigan’s third-largest county by population, with nearly 900,000 residents, and has played a significant role in recent elections. The presidential candidate who has won the county in three of the last four presidential elections has gone on to win the state and the White House.
Trump won Macomb County in 2016 by double digits after former President Barack Obama won it in 2008 and 2012 by 8.6 percent and 4 percent, respectively, according to the New York Times. The trend broke in 2020 when Trump carried the county by eight points, but Biden won the state and the electoral college.
The group exceeded its goal of 10,000 “uncommitted” protest votes in the Michigan primary, garnering more than 100,000. The threat is that these uncommitted voters in Michigan and other key swing states like Wisconsin and Pennsylvania will stay home during the general election, posing a significant risk to Biden’s reelection.
For context, the 101,430 uncommitted votes in Michigan are close to the 154,188-vote margin between Trump and Biden in 2020.
With the primary season ending and the general election ramping up, a Muslim activist group called Abandon Biden is organizing efforts in Michigan and eight other swing states to prevent Biden from winning reelection, the Star-Tribune reported.
“The group’s leaders say they want to politically punish the president for what they describe as enabling mass civilian casualties in Gaza,” per the outlet’s Maya Rao.
