'Joy' and 'Unity?' Tell That to the 44 DNC Delegates Who Snubbed Kamala Harris and Voted 'Present'

By / / Gov & Politics / 4 minutes of reading



If you ask Democrat Party officials and the media (same thing), they are likely to tell you this is the best Democrat National Convention ever. The word of the week for the media appears to be “electric,” and there is nothing but joy and unity to be had in Chicago. But an interesting thing occurred during the perfunctory roll call portion of the convention Tuesday night. As roll calls go, they are a bit boring, so many people might have missed the portion of the convention that wasn’t so unified and joyful.

The floor roll call was basically for show. Kamala Harris secured the nomination earlier this month via a virtual roll call. But apparently, not wanting to deprive state delegations of the opportunity for the minutes-long bragfest each state and territory gets when announcing their delegates, the ceremonial roll call went forward. But among the handful of some 4,695 available delegates, 44 delegates from 13 states voted “present.” Of those who voted “present,” there were 30 delegates who belong to the “Uncommitted” protest movement. A statement on their website says they “feel deeply hurt and betrayed by the President’s decisions to continue funding war crimes and the mass killing of Palestinians.”

Washington state had seven delegates who voted “present” at both the virtual and floor roll call. One of those was Yaz Kader, a Palestinian American who said he voted “on behalf of a 10-year-old who was bombed and killed on her 10th birthday.” Kader was not moved by Joe Biden calling for a cease-fire Monday night during his speech. He added:

“Words are not enough right now. Over the last 10 months we have seen churches, mosques, schools, universities — almost everything destroyed in Gaza.”

Kader and his fellow delegate, Sabrene Odeh, say they want to see a real difference in policy between Kamala Harris and Tim Walz and the Biden administration. They are also hoping for a meeting between uncommitted delegates and Harris’s senior staff “to get a sense of her stance,” but that has not happened as yet.

Washington was not the only state where there was dissent among delegates on the Israel-Hamas war. Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, Ohio, Texas, and Tim Walz’s home state of Minnesota were the other states that had uncommitted delegates. Minnesota had the most “present” votes, with ten. 

Democrats have been courting those all-important Michigan votes for a while. Knowing the uncommitted votes are a problem with portraying a united front among Democrats at the convention, Democrat officials have held meetings with the uncommitted delegates, including a meeting between Kamala Harris and the mayor of Dearborn, Michigan, home to a substantial Arab-American community. However, the meetings have not been very effective. The ultimate goal of the uncommitted movement is a permanent cease-fire and an arms embargo to Israel. Harris is supportive of cease-fire negotiations but not in favor of an arms embargo.

The other problem with the “joy and unity” theme of the convention is the fact that thousands of pro-Hamas anti-Israel protesters are showing up every day outside the United Center to voice their opposition to Biden-Harris administration policies. Neither Kader nor Odeh have participated in the protests outside the convention center and say they do not want to create disruption. But clearly, many who agree with them do.

Kamala Harris may have no choice but to clarify her position on the Israel-Hamas war to secure those Michigan votes before the election and placate the uncommitted movement. But with roughly 70 percent of Jewish Americans tending to vote Democrat, all of that supposed convention unity looks a lot like the roll call itself, purely ceremonial.   





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