President Joe Biden is facing a familiar challenge in Wisconsin from an unlikely group.
The Listen to Wisconsin campaign earned the support of some union members, a key demographic in the Badger State for both Biden and former President Donald Trump. Wisconsin is taking a page out of Michigan’s book ahead of the state’s April 2 primary, telling Democrats to vote “uninstructed” over voting for Biden to send a message about their anti-war sentiments. In 2020, Biden won Wisconsin by a narrow margin of 20,000 votes.
“As trade unionists, we feel like it is our obligation to stand in solidarity with them and to pressure our electeds and our unions to do more and to do better to stop the U.S. support for the genocide in Gaza,” Jacob Flom, who sits on the board of the Milwaukee Area Labor Council, told the Guardian.
At a Biden campaign event last week in Madison, union members handed out leaflets urging voters to vote “uninstructed” on Tuesday.
“We’ve gotten changes in wording — now [the Biden administration is] willing to say ‘ceasefire,’” said Barret Elward, a member of the union representing faculty and staff at the University of Wisconsin. “But I mean, it’s just pablum, it’s just messaging, it’s just a PR thing. Nothing has changed on the ground.”
The “uninstructed” campaign has found support in a crucial demographic Biden is trying to win over in states such as Wisconsin and Michigan: immigrant and low-wage workers. Biden is trying to capture a base of voters without a college degree, a base Republicans have been improving with in recent years.
Some Latino voters in Wisconsin are using the “uninstructed” vote to show their distaste for what they see as Biden moving to the right on border policies, such as limiting the number of asylum-seekers coming into the country per day.
“You’re not going to win those Trump supporters, but you are definitely eroding and alienating your own base,” Christine Neumann-Ortiz, the executive director of Voces de la Frontera, a Latino voting network that is supporting the uninstructed movement. She said she would like to see Biden campaign on protections for immigrants.
“It’s so important that in the months ahead that he respond to the demands that are being made on Gaza and for Latinos and immigrants, who he needs to reaffirm his commitment to,” Neumann-Ortiz said.
The Listen to Wisconsin campaign has already received the support of 20 elected officials in the state.
The shift in union sentiment in this primary is a blow to the Biden campaign because Biden has marketed himself as “the most pro-union president in history.”
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In December, the United Auto Workers union called for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, the largest union to do so, with about 400,000 members. Biden stood behind UAW members as workers for the three big automakers, Ford, Stellantis, and General Motors, found big gains with new contracts. A month later, the union endorsed him for president.
“As I said, I promised to be the most pro-union president in history,” Biden said. “And I tell business leaders all the time: Our union workers are the best in the world.”
