Biden wins New Jersey Democratic primary

President Biden has won the New Jersey Democratic presidential primary, according to Decision Desk HQ. 

Biden’s win in the Garden State will net him at least most of the state’s 126 pledged delegates up for grabs from Tuesday’s primary. He already became the presumptive Democratic nominee after clinching enough delegates in March. 

He was the only major candidate on the ballot in the state, opposed by progressive and anti-abortion activist Terrisa Bukovinac. But voters could also choose the “uncommitted” option that some have chosen in other states as a protest against the Biden administration’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war. 

Democratic Socialists of America led an effort to get delegates pledged to vote uncommitted on the ballot as a choice for voters to select to send to the Democratic National Convention in August. These delegates are running under the slogan “Justice for Palestine, Permanent Ceasefire Now.” 

The effort to get voters to back the uncommitted option has seen some moderate success in various states. It attained 11 out of 74 delegates in the Minnesota primary and received more than 100,000 votes in the Michigan primary, two of the most notable successes. 

Both of those states have sizeable Arab American populations. New Jersey could be a state where the effort could see some continued success with one of the largest Muslim populations in the country. 

A candidate, or the uncommitted option, must receive at least 15 percent of the vote statewide or in a congressional district to win a delegate.