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The Uncommitted campaign of anti-war Democratic delegates said Thursday that it could not endorse Kamala Harris for president, after spending the weeks since the party’s convention trying to get her to oppose further military aid to Israel.
“Vice President Harris’s unwillingness to shift on unconditional weapons policy or to even make a clear statement in support of upholding existing US and international human rights law has made it impossible for us to endorse her,” said Abbas Alawieh, the co-founder of the Uncommitted National Movement, and a delegate from Michigan.
On a call with reporters, Uncommitted organizers said that they would not support Donald Trump or a third-party candidate like Green Party nominee Jill Stein and independent Cornel West. Alawieh said that he would cast a ballot for Harris, while other activists might leave the top of the ballot blank.
Formed during the Democratic primaries, when pro-ceasefire voters marked “uncommitted” on their ballots instead of Joe Biden, uncommitted activists represented less than 1% of delegates to the DNC in Chicago. They used that event to draw more attention to their cause, demanding that the party let a Palestinian-American speak from the main stage, while convincing hundreds more delegates to endorse an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
But they did not get a speaker in Chicago, and the Harris-Walz campaign did not meet its next demand: A meeting with organizers by September 15.
“We urge uncommitted voters to register anti-Trump votes and vote up and down the ballot,” said Layla Elabed, another co-founder of the group. “Our focus remains on building this anti-war coalition, both inside and outside the Democratic Party.”
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David’s view
The Harris campaign has walked a narrow line on Gaza, pledging to support Israel while saying that it wants a ceasefire that would allow hostages to be freed.
“Far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed: Children, mothers,” Harris said in last week’s ABC News debate. “What we know is that this war must end. It must end immediately, and the way it will end is we need a cease-fire deal.”
But anti-war activists have heard that for nearly a year, and the Uncommitted movement — which, unlike some protesters, wanted to work inside the Democratic Party — says that the administration can’t be credibly pro-ceasefire while sending arms to Israel.
That tension was visible at the DNC. One delegate who unfurled a “Stop Arming Israel” banner during Monday night’s programming was whacked by a delegate, holding one of the Biden signs on polls handed out during the president’s speech; the US Council of Muslim Organizations has asked for “hate-crime, battery, and personal injury charges” to be filed against the delegate who hit her.
Abbas, Elabed, and other organizers kept reaching out to the campaign anyway, warning that crucial 2020 Biden voters, particularly in Michigan, would refuse to support the ticket without a ceasefire. Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian-American member of Congress, has yet to endorse Biden after voting “uncommitted” in the February primary.
The Trump campaign and its allies have also tried to widen the gulf between anti-war voters and Democrats. During his last swing through southeast Michigan, Trump met with Hamtramck Mayor Amer Ghalib to lobby for an endorsement; in 2020, Biden won his largely Arab-American city with 84% of the vote.
Notable
- In Slate, Josephine Riesman and S.I. Rosenbaum argues that Harris’ tone may matter as much as her rhetoric and positions, which are largely the same as Biden’s: “There is reason to believe Harris is trying to signal that she is sympathetic with the cause of Uncommitted or open to their goals.”