Hartford — Riding the coattails of a sizeable protest vote in Michigan, pro-Palestinian organizers announced the launch of a campaign to encourage Connecticut Democrats to vote “uncommitted” on primary ballots this April to protest President Joe Biden’s support for Israel in the war in Gaza.

On the steps of Hartford Public Library on Wednesday, members of the Vote Uncommitted CT campaign gathered to “demand an immediate and permanent cease-fire in Gaza, an end to US military aid to Israel, and an end to the genocidal occupation of Palestine.”

The multicultural group of elected officials and community activists said that Biden must earn their votes in Connecticut’s April 2 primary and the November election through policy change.

“Uncommitted,” “Leave it blank” and other protest votes have emerged in several state primaries, inciting fear among some Biden allies who worry the protest could spill into the general election and lead to losses in key swing states this November.

Michigan’s Democratic primary saw more than 101,000 uncommitted votes, garnering 13% of the vote to Biden’s 81%. On Super Tuesday, Minnesota saw an even higher share with nearly 19% of Democratic votes recorded as uncommitted.

Abdul Osmanu, a member of Hamden Legislative Council and the campaign, said uncommitted voters are “more than just a fringe group, but a sizable segment of the Democratic electorate” who are “unsatisfied with our voices and concerns for humanity not being heard.”

“That is what the uncommitted campaign is about,” Osmanu said. “That is the spirit of it, sending a clear message that in our vote lies power, that our votes must be earned with actual concrete policy changes.”

In the roughly five months since the Oct. 7 terrorist attack in which Hamas militants killed roughly 1,200 Israelis, more than 30,000 Palestinians have died in Gaza. Since the start of the war, the U.S. has funneled millions in weapons, military and humanitarian aid toward the conflict.

Osmanu said that recent polls show that more than 50% of Democrats and Republicans support a cease-fire in Gaza, a deal that the U.S. and other world leaders have yet to negotiate.

“You don’t solve terror with more terror. You don’t solve oppression and rape and hurt with more oppression and rape and hurt. You solve it with humanity and thoughtful new solutions, and I’m not seeing that from this administration on the national level,” Hartford City Councilman Joshua Michtom said.

Michtom, who is Jewish and won reelection to the council on the Working Families Party ticket, is no longer a registered Democrat. Michtom said he is nonetheless endorsing the uncommitted campaign from the outside and is encouraging his Democratic friends to vote uncommitted in April.

“If uncommitted comes out strong, it sends a message that the Democrats in Washington aren’t going to hear otherwise,” Michtom said.

Instead of funding Israel’s military operations in Gaza, speakers Wednesday said they want to see Biden and the Democratic party support for affordable housing, education and other progressive initiatives.

They said they will not be swayed by arguments that a vote against Biden is a vote for former President Donald Trump.

“The Democratic Party expects our support because of who the alternative to the president is, but being the lesser of two evils is not the Democratic party that I signed up for,” New Britain Alderman Nathan Simpson said.

Sarah White, who is Jewish and a member of the Connecticut branch of Jewish Voice for Peace Action, said that the Biden administration “needs to stop taking our votes for granted.”

“I’m horrified by the far right and of the prospect of another Trump presidency of what it could do to our communities. But that is exactly why I am doing everything in my power during the Democratic primaries to be a wake-up call to the Democratic party,” White said.

“American voters, including Jewish voters, do not support policies of death and genocide. We are uncommitted on April 2nd because we demand a foreign policy that centers life, a permanent ceasefire and an end to the flow of weapons to the Israeli military,” she added.

Organizers described the campaign as a project of the Political Engagement Committee of the Connecticut Palestine Solidarity Coalition, a group that has received criticism for disruptive protests, including an organized interruption of Gov. Ned Lamont’s State of the State Address.

According to organizers, coalition members include Abandon Biden, We Will Return, Connecticut Democratic Socialists of America, New Britain Racial Justice Coalition, Bristol Anti Racism Brigade, Hartford Jewish Organizing Collective, Party for Socialism and Liberation Connecticut, Islamic Association of Central Connecticut Impact Organization, Connecticut Students 4 Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace Action Connecticut.

Ebaa Mohmed, the press liaison for the campaign and a member of the coalition’s steering committee, said community members are mobilizing voters through phone banking, social media campaigns and discussions within mosques, Jewish groups and political organizations.

“We’re hitting every angle there is to get everyone to come out on April 2 and vote uncommitted,” Mohmed said.

Mohmed said the campaign is hoping to pull 6,000 uncommitted voters this April — roughly 0.75% of the state’s 800,492 active Democrats, according to the Connecticut Secretary of the State’s most recent party enrollment statistics.

“Each form of protest against this genocide holds significance,” Mohmed said. “Biden has not earned our vote, and he has repeatedly shown that he will not listen to his constituents and will not uphold all the promises that got him into office in the first place. On April 2nd, we will vote uncommitted and we urge that you do the same.”