The following statement was issued by the PSL’s Claudia De La Cruz/Karina Garcia presidential campaign
The Claudia De la Cruz / Karina Garcia 2024 presidential campaign supports the growing movement of people who are sending a message of rejection to Genocide Joe at the voting booth. Many Democrats who voted for Biden in 2020, particularly in the Arab and Muslim communities, have already declared they will “Abandon Biden” this year. Now there is a movement of hundreds of thousands to vote “uncommitted” in the primary elections, or to leave the top of the ticket blank. This effort, only a few weeks old, has highlighted how Biden’s facilitation of the genocide will not go unpunished and already become a major source of anxiety for the administration. In the February 27 Michigan primary, over 100,000 registered Democrats went to the polls to vote “uncommitted,” and they undoubtedly spoke for a much larger group. They sent a clear message: support for the genocide will lead to Biden losing a state that is central to his “path to victory” in November.
Our campaign and the PSL call on those who are voting in the Democratic primary to not vote for Biden: vote uncommitted, “none of the above,” or, where that is not possible, leave the top of the ticket blank.
The strength of this vote serves as a register of the deep anger that exists among people who typically vote for Democrats. It is part of a broader movement in solidarity with Palestine that has had a remarkable effect on public opinion. Massive marches have taken place in major cities across the country. Politicians are disrupted wherever they go. Opposition to the Israeli regime’s crimes is appearing everywhere in society, creating major fault lines in every institution. Each tactic builds towards the same ultimate end, and the electoral movement is another arena to show our power.
We encourage all those who have had enough with the Democratic Party’s empty promises, genocidal war-mongering, and anti-people agenda — and who know that the Republicans offer no alternative — to take the next step and abandon the Democratic Party altogether. Regardless of whatever small inroads progressives have made into it here and there, as an institution and as a party, the real powers inside the Democratic Party will always serve the war machine and Wall Street, and that is why they totally back Israel.
We encourage everyone who is casting an “uncommitted” vote in the Democratic primaries, to become committed participants in the struggle for a free Palestine. Take to the streets to prevent Israel from going forward with its invasion of Rafah. Support the BDS movement to punish all institutions that facilitate apartheid. Our real power lies not in the voting booth, but what each of us does every day to build that kind of movement.
And we invite you to join the movement for socialism. The millionaires and billionaires control the two establishment parties through campaign donations, lobbyists, personal influence and the promise of lucrative jobs. We need a movement and a party to fight for the interests of the working class, and to fight for a whole new system that stands with the Palestinian people and all oppressed people. That’s the kind of message you can send by voting Socialist in November, and by joining the socialist movement that is organizing year-round in neighborhoods and workplaces nationwide.
