This page is subject to the extended confirmed restriction related to the Arab-Israeli conflict.The Uncommitted National Movement is a protest campaign aimed mainly to pressure the United States government to achieve a ceasefire in the Gaza war and impose an arms embargo on Israel.

The movement started in February, when the "Listen to Michigan" campaign attracted a large amount of support from Arab-Americans and progressives against President Joe Biden.

[3][4] President Joe Biden's support of Israel drew criticism from pro-Palestinian protestors in the United States, and led to the disillusionment of some voters.

[9] Waleed Shahid, a Democratic strategist, had previously written a memo saying that if anti-war activists utilized protest votes, it could "politicize and electoralize discontent", gaining them greater attention and funding.

Co-founders Layla Elabed and Abbas Alawieh, Shahid, and others used "a shoestring budget and a few weeks of intense on-the-ground work" to spread awareness about the uncommitted option ahead of the upcoming primary vote.

[13] Uncommitted campaigns were quickly organized in Super Tuesday states, most notably in Minnesota, North Carolina, Colorado and Massachusetts.

The campaign was endorsed by the largest union in the state, United Food and Commercial Workers 3000; a Seattle chapter of the American Federation of Teachers; and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP).

[27] "Listen to Wisconsin", a campaign supported by the national movement, garnered nearly 50,000 votes for "uninstructed", more than the margin Biden won the state by in 2020.

[41] When Harris became the nominee after Biden withdrew from the race, the movement became "cautiously optimistic" that she would change policy on Israel due to her sympathetic rhetoric.

Harris briefly met Elabed and Alawieh at a rally in Michigan, where they told her the movement would like to support her, but that they wanted an embargo on Israel first.

[42] In early August, it was reported that the Harris campaign had met with Arab-American leaders and activists, as well as Uncommitted allies, in Michigan.

Harris's campaign manager Julie Chávez Rodriguez met individually with activists in Metro Detroit, including Osama Siblani, publisher of the Arab American News.

Harris herself met with Abdullah Hammoud, the mayor of Dearborn, Michigan, the city with the largest Arab-American population in the United States, to discuss the war and her policy.

[44] During the DNC, the Uncommitted delegates were allowed to hold a Palestinian human rights panel, where they and others discussed the war and Harris's position on it.

[48][49] Congresswomen Ilhan Omar and Summer Lee visited the sit-in, while Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez interacted with the delegates via FaceTime.

[52] The movement also said that Harris's speech didn't shift policy from Biden's stance, with one delegate saying her call for Palestinian self-determination was incompatible with continued arms transfers to Israel.

[53] After the convention, the movement sent a letter to Harris and her advisors calling for a ceasefire and contact with people affected by the war, also expressing discontent at the refusal of a Palestinian speaker.

The group also highlighted far-right proposals in Project 2025 and comments made by pro-Israel Trump allies David M. Friedman, Jared Kushner, and Miriam Adelson.

[64][65] The movement said Harris risked losing swing states such as Michigan, where Arab and Muslim voters "know firsthand the effects and the impact of American-funded bombing", if she did not support a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and commit to stopping weapons shipments to Israel.

Shahid, in an opinion piece for Jacobin, argued that while the movement did not achieve its demands, it still succeeded by receiving support from the Democratic base.

[75] Michael Traugott, a Michigan-based political scientist, wrote in The Conversation that Biden and Harris's lack of outreach to Arab-American voters in Wayne County, where the greatest number of Uncommitted votes came from, helped shift Michigan right.

[78] CEO of Muslim advocacy group Emgage Action Wa'el Alzayat said that Harris would've had higher support if she signaled that she would break from Biden on Gaza, and added, "What kind of peace and freedom for the Palestinians are we going have under Mike Huckabee and Tulsi Gabbard?

"[77] Writer Camonghne Felix said in an opinion piece for argued that the movement succeeded by showing that Gaza was a mainstream issue, and said that Democrats' chances of gains in the 2026 elections were slim unless it pursued an end to the conflict.

Adam Jentleson, former chief of staff for Senator John Fetterman, said that "leaders of the uncommitted movement want to blame everyone but themselves for their disastrous strategy that helped elect Donald Trump".

[80] Senator Elissa Slotkin told the Washington Examiner that "I think anyone who trusted Trump to be a new and different actor on the Middle East was probably just not listening closely enough".