JTA — Abbas Alawieh, a founder of the Uncommitted movement that pressured former US president Joe Biden to change his Israel policy, is the projected winner of a Democratic primary for Michigan’s state Senate.

Alawieh rose to national prominence as a key architect of the campaign to withhold votes from Biden during Michigan’s presidential primary in 2024, a protest against the administration’s support for Israel as it inflicted mounting casualties in Gaza.

Alawieh defeated state representative Erin Byrnes in Tuesday’s primary to represent Michigan’s 2nd Senate District, a heavily Arab-American area covering Dearborn and parts of Detroit — and the epicenter of the Uncommitted effort. He won 59% of the vote to Byrnes’s 41% after more than 95% of votes were counted, according to the Associated Press, and is now almost certain to win the solid-blue state Senate seat in November.

Alawieh, who was born in Lebanon and grew up in Dearborn, acknowledged his victory without giving a speech on Wednesday. His staff announced that Alawieh’s maternal grandfather, Hajj Kassem Bazzi, died Tuesday night as they awaited the election results.

“Please keep Abbas’s family in your prayers as they take needed time together,” Alawieh’s team said in a statement. “Abbas will share his own thoughts on the race soon. For now, thank you to every community that made this win possible.”

Alawieh was backed by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. He previously worked as a staffer for congressional Democrats, including Michigan Representative Rashida Tlaib, former Michigan representative Andy Levin and former Missouri representative Cori Bush, who lost a primary against Representative Wesley Bell on........

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