The “Dump Biden” campaign has relaunched and “stepped up” its campaign, this time focusing on taking on Vice President Kamala Harris in key battleground states.
The campaign released a statement about X last week, saying it was “intensifying efforts in key battleground states to rally Muslim Americans and their supporters against Candidate Harris-Waltz.”
“This action is a direct response to Kamala Harris' support for the ongoing genocide in Gaza,” the Campaign to Abandon Harris said in a statement.
The movement, which began in the Muslim-majority city of Dearborn, Michigan, first targeted President Biden's re-election campaign during the primary, arguing that the community needed to send a message to the Democratic Party because of the president's continued support for Israel.
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Combined with other efforts such as the “Vote Independent” campaign that sprung up in Dearborn around the same time, the campaign was able to get more than 100,000 voters to cast their ballots as independents in Michigan's primary election earlier this year.
Biden's decision to drop out of the race in July and Harris' subsequent rise to the top seemed to open the door for members of the movement to rally support for the Democratic nominee, but tensions between Harris and campaign leaders have persisted after the vice president failed to fully meet their demands.
“We have no interest in empty rhetoric, empty platitudes or shallow calls for a ceasefire as the Biden-Harris Administration continues to send weapons to Israel, enable the indiscriminate slaughter of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and fuel an escalating regional conflict,” the campaign said in a statement. “Words without meaningful action are meaningless, and continued complicity in these atrocities will not be tolerated.”
During the primaries, the group was able to extend its influence to key battleground states in November's elections, from Michigan to Wisconsin, where the past two presidential elections have been decided by narrow margins and where a lack of support from demographics that have leaned heavily Democratic for most of the past two decades could be the deciding factor.
Professor Hassan Abdel Salam, founder of “Abandon Biden,” speaks to several dozen pro-Palestinian activists who gathered to protest the Biden administration's support for Israel's attacks on Gaza, outside a Biden campaign rally at the A. Philip Randolph Career and Technical Center in Detroit, Michigan, on July 12, 2024. (Photo by Adam J. Dewey/Anadolu via Getty Images)
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As of Sunday, the Real Clear Politics polling average had Harris holding slight leads in both states, with a 1.1-point lead in Michigan and a 1.4-point lead in Wisconsin.
The campaign has had success pivoting to states like Minnesota during the primaries and is considering expanding to other battleground states.
The group did not offer to support former President Donald Trump's campaign, but urged supporters “not to fall into the complacency trap of abstaining from the 2024 election” and to “vote against genocide and support third-party candidates as a clear message of rejection of any political party that participates in or supports genocide.”
“At this time, we are not announcing our support for any specific third party candidate. If the situation changes, we will make an announcement,” the statement said.
Protesters from the “Abandon Biden” group hold signs during a news conference ahead of President Joe Biden's visit to Saginaw, Michigan, Thursday, March 14, 2024. (Photographer: Nick Antaya/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“We have abandoned Biden, and now we are abandoning Harris, and we will not budge an inch,” the statement continued. “We remain steadfast in our belief and mission to ensure that the political party that currently supports, funds and enables Israel's slaughter of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip is defeated in the election.”
Reached for comment by Fox News Digital, a spokesperson for Abandon Harris said the campaign had “extended a reconciliatory hand to Kamala Harris and shown an openness to dialogue” following Biden's decision to drop out of the race.
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“Harris launched Abandon Harris on August 19th after waiting nearly a month, including holding a disastrous rally in Michigan where she inadvertently revealed her stance on those protesting the genocide in Gaza,” the spokesperson said.
The spokesman added that the group doesn't think there's anything Harris can do to regain support, but noted it is not encouraging anyone to vote for Trump.
“We remember President Trump's decision to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem and his stand during the Gaza March of Return,” the spokesman said. “We have consistently called on voters not to support either the Democrats or the Republicans and have made it clear that not participating in the elections is not an acceptable option.”
The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
