Left-leaning New Yorkers plan a primary protest vote against Biden’s war policies

NEW YORK — Democrats who plan to cast blank ballots instead of voting for Joe Biden say it doesn’t mean they want Donald Trump to win.

“We think the main enemy of Democrats this year is the lack of enthusiasm,” said Ana María Archila, co-director of the New York Working Families Party, in an interview. “And in order to address that, we need to remind people that their votes really matter.”

The Leave It Blank movement — New York’s iteration of the Uncommitted movement in Michigan, Minnesota and elsewhere protesting Biden over the Israel-Hamas war — will be put to the test in Tuesday’s primary in the state.

The left-leaning Working Families Party boosted it with an endorsement in recent days, a decision that Archila said was one of the hardest that the party has had to make. The nod lends the momentum to the movement, the campaign’s co-founder Brittany Ramos DeBarros said.

“That represents tens of thousands of New Yorkers across the state who are hearing about Leave It Blank and recognizing that they have an option to use their ballot to send a message,” DeBarros said in an interview.

Dozens of groups have endorsed it, including several Democratic Socialists of America chapters. The number of voters pledged to the campaign is in the thousands and eight elected officials back it, according to DeBarros.

They’re a vocal group, and some told POLITICO they believe ramping up the pressure on Biden for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza will make for a stronger Democratic Party come November.

“I’m concerned that the president’s actions to aid and abet this genocide are going to harm his ability to defeat Trump this November,” said Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani, a DSA-aligned Queens Democrat who cast a blank ballot during the early voting period.

Biden, an octogenarian and a moderate, already had trouble courting younger and more progressive voters. The war and deaths of more than 30,000 Palestinians have served as an accelerant, inspiring protests and disruptions, including one late last month as Biden, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton spoke from the stage of a Manhattan fundraiser that generated a record $26 million.

“When you’re seeing thousands of civilians being killed, there’s no longer a conversation about what tool is most comfortable,” said City Council Member Alexa Avilés, a Brooklyn Democrat, in an interview. “This is a moment where we can make a statement, where numbers can speak directly to the president.”

Not all who endorsed Leave It Blank are DSA members and not all DSA-backed elected leaders are on the list. Perhaps the highest-profile name missing is Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has defended Biden’s successes but also said in a floor speech late last month, “If you want to know what an unfolding genocide looks like, open your eyes.”

A spokesperson for Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign declined to comment on the protest vote effort.

Biden’s surrogates noted that the Democrats are a big tent party.

“The president believes making your voice heard and participating in our democracy is fundamental to who we are as Americans,” Biden campaign spokesperson Lauren Hitt said in a statement. “He shares the goal for an end to the violence and a just, lasting peace in the Middle East. He’s working tirelessly to that end.”

And Biden’s supporters do include elected Democrats who are younger or who identify as progressives.

“I think Biden has responded to the voters. I think he’s working diligently to get a cease-fire in the Gaza region, and he’s working to get humanitarian aid,” said Assemblymember Kenny Burgos, 29, of the Bronx, who cast his vote for Biden early.

While Leave It Blank participants say the primary is the time for debate among Democrats, skeptics say now is the time for party unity. Far from filling out a blank ballot, some left-leaning Biden supporters will literally be on the ballot as delegates backing his reelection.

Diana Ayala, deputy speaker of the City Council, is one of them.

“As unhappy as we may be about certain situations,” she said in an interview, “why would we want to encourage that type of division in politics?”

Leave It Blank’s actual reach won’t be known for weeks, when the blank ballots are tallied as part of the certified vote count rather than the unofficial primary night one.

A version of this story first appeared in Tuesday’s New York Playbook. Subscribe here.