FILE - President Joe Biden meets with UAW members during a campaign stop at a phone bank in the UAW Region 1 Union Hall, Feb. 1, 2024, in Warren, Mich. Biden is dispatching several senior aides to Michigan to meet with Arab American and Muslim leaders as the administrations handling of the Israel-Hamas war continues to frustrate members of a key constituency in a 2024 battleground state. That's according to three people familiar with the matter. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)FILE - Pro-Palestinian demonstrators march during a visit by President Joe Biden in Warren, Mich., Feb. 1, 2024. Biden is dispatching several senior aides to Michigan to meet with Arab American and Muslim leaders as the administrations handling of the Israel-Hamas war continues to frustrate members of a key constituency in a 2024 battleground state. That's according to three people familiar with the matter. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)FILE - Michigan Republican Party chair Pete Hoekstra listens to Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Waterford Township, Mich., Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024. Michigan Republicans are planning dueling presidential nominating conventions that will take place March 2, even though the national Republican Party said members properly removed former chair Kristina Karamo and recognized former Congressman Hoekstra as the party's new chair. Hoekstra announced Tuesday, Feb. 20, that he would hold a presidential nominating convention in Grand Rapids on the same day Karamo and her backers plan to hold one in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)
Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved
FILE - President Joe Biden meets with UAW members during a campaign stop at a phone bank in the UAW Region 1 Union Hall, Feb. 1, 2024, in Warren, Mich. Biden is dispatching several senior aides to Michigan to meet with Arab American and Muslim leaders as the administrations handling of the Israel-Hamas war continues to frustrate members of a key constituency in a 2024 battleground state. That's according to three people familiar with the matter. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump look to repeat their past Michigan primary victories on Tuesday, when they each face opponents who haven’t yet won a contest this year but also show no indication of dropping out.
Biden is fending off a challenge from Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota, who has done little so far to slow the president’s path to renomination, while Trump faces another head-to-head match-up with former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley. While Biden and Trump are strong favorites to win in Michigan, state and party rules create complications on both sides.
Polls close statewide at 8 p.m. local time. Most of the state closes at 8 p.m. ET, but four counties in the Upper Peninsula are in the Central time zone and close at 8 p.m. CT, which is 9 p.m. ET.
For Biden, a more significant factor on Tuesday than Phillips may be an effort by some Arab Americans and progressive activists to urge primary voters to cast their ballots for “uncommitted” in protest of Biden’s stalwart support of Israel over the war in Gaza. The effort has the backing of Rep. Rashida Tlaib, former Rep. Andy Levin and local leaders from throughout southeastern Michigan, including Dearborn, where nearly 55% of residents are of Middle Eastern or North African ancestry, according to Census figures.
On the Republican side, the primary is just the first step in a two-part process to win delegates. Less than a third of the state’s 55 Republican delegates will be up for grabs on Tuesday. The remainder will be won at 13 congressional district meetings that will be held March 2. Complicating that process is an ongoing dispute within the Michigan Republican Party in which the current and former state party chairs are planning rival events to allocate delegates on the same day. Trump has backed the faction led by former U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, who was recently recognized by the Republican National Committee as the new chairman.
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