Whether It’s Biden or Someone Else, Gaza Remains Top Priority for “Uncommitted” Voters

As Democrats nationwide pressure President Joe Biden to abandon his reelection bid, voters aligned with the “uncommitted” movement to protest his handling of the war in Gaza say they won’t get behind any nominee who doesn’t make a clear commitment to a permanent ceasefire.

“I think it would be a big mistake for the Democratic Party to switch gears but stay the course on this particular issue that has galvanized so many people in an unprecedented way in the primaries and who continue showing up and trying to advocate to be heard in a system that is continuing, they feel, to ignore them,” said Halah Ahmad, a policy analyst and spokesperson with Listen to Wisconsin, the state’s “uninstructed” campaign. 

“They should let that policy die with this administration and move towards being a party that stands by its actual values,” Ahmad continued, “which are meant to be anti-war and pro-peace and pro-human rights and international law — which is in direct contrast to everything a Trump candidacy stands for.”

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The anti-war movement to vote “uncommitted” instead of supporting Biden took off earlier this year ahead of Michigan’s Democratic primary in February. Advocates for the protest vote later launched chapters in other critical swing states including Wisconsin and Pennsylvania and have netted more than half a million votes in more than a dozen primaries. The movement has garnered support for at least 25 delegates at the upcoming Democratic National Convention. 

Activists from around the country told The Intercept that they will advocate for an anti-war agenda at the convention in August and withhold their vote in November unless an adequate candidate steps up, listing policy priorities such as support for a permanent ceasefire and standing up to the pro-Israel lobby as it intervenes in Democratic primaries. Even as the Biden campaign insists that he will not step aside, many Democrats appear to be lining up behind Vice President Kamala Harris as an alternative candidate, with some Democratic governors being floated as well. 

“My No. 1 criteria for any candidate is opposing the genocide in Gaza.”

“My No. 1 criteria for any candidate is opposing the genocide in Gaza,” said Saad Farooq, an uncommitted voter in Massachusetts. Farooq said it was unlikely that the Democratic National Committee would select any candidate who took a stance against Israel’s ongoing war and that he would support Green Party candidate Jill Stein if she were to appear on the ballot in Massachusetts. 

Cole Sandick, who left his primary ballot in New York blank, said his apprehension over supporting Biden stemmed completely from his handling of the war on Gaza. “The rest of his presidency has been imperfect but better than I thought it was going to be, and I was fully on board to vote for him prior to October 7,” Sandick wrote. “Really all I want from an alternative candidate is simply *some* moderation on this issue. Some commitment to a ceasefire, some recognition of the carnage that’s taken place. Some concern for the civil liberties being ripped away from all those like me who dissent and protest.”

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Sandick said he would support Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer or Harris. “Nominating Biden at this point is a death sentence.” 

Shaneez Hameed, an uncommitted voter in California, also said that the war in Gaza is a red line for him as a voter. 

“Any new candidate will have to do something about stopping the genocide in Palestine and also be open to making changes with the supreme Court and filibuster,” Hameed wrote. “Or else, nothing changes and there is no point in voting.” 

He mentioned Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who has called for a ceasefire in Gaza, as a candidate who might fit the bill, but conceded that there is no “realistic chance of him being nominated.” Hameed said he wasn’t familiar with Harris’s policies, “but if she even entertains the idea of a ceasefire, I will vote.”

Harris, for her part, reportedly pushed the White House to be more sympathetic toward Palestinian suffering in public statements about the war. In March, Harris delivered a speech that symbolized a U.S. escalation, as she more forcefully called for an “immediate ceasefire” and urged Israel to do more to increase the flow of aid to Gaza. “No excuses,” she said. Even then, reports surfaced that National Security Council officials had watered down parts of her speech. 

“We have to have a goal that we start working on right now, for peace and for an equal measure of security for Israelis and Palestinians,” Harris said later that month. “Palestinians have a right to self-determination; they have a right to dignity, and we’re going to have to work on that.”

For some activists, Harris’s association with Biden makes her candidacy a nonstarter. Mohamed Hussein, an uncommitted voter in Minnesota, said that he didn’t want to see anyone from the current administration replace Biden. “I would have no faith in them to speak up when they can’t even speak up to the obvious circus going on,” he said. “I would question their ability to handle difficult situations and decisions because it seems like no one in the administration is pulling the alarm on the embarrassing situation.” 

Harris is “guilty by association,” Hussein wrote. “In my eyes, she’s either ok with Biden running as president again or she’s not able to talk him out of it. Both are bad qualities in a president.”

Hussein added that he was interested in a governor possibly replacing Biden on the Democratic ticket because they might be less tied to D.C. politics. “I feel like they’re less likely to be influenced by people in Washington,” he said. 

Will Dawson, an uncommitted voter in Washington, D.C., named several factors that could get him to switch his vote from the Green Party’s Stein to another politician. First on his list is a promise to call for an immediate ceasefire and fighting the influence of the pro-Israel lobby and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in Congress. 

“This candidate would also ideally work toward pulling further away from the Israeli colonial project over time, with the goal being repealing our absurd financial support, ending the foreign interest agency of AIPAC, and pushing for a nation-wide boycott a la [South Africa] during their apartheid,” Dawson wrote. 

The candidate would also have to push to reform the Supreme Court, he added. “The candidate would have to promise to both push for justice impeachment, and expand the courts,” Dawson said.“If a replacement candidate met both of these requirements, I would absolutely consider switching my vote from Jill Stein. Hell, I might even knock doors/canvass for them!”  

As uncommitted voters list their conditions, concerns around backing a candidate who supports Israel’s war are spreading to others within the Democratic Party apparatus. One DNC delegate, who was granted anonymity to speak freely, told The Intercept that they have been experiencing reservations as a delegate due to Biden’s unrelenting support for Israel. “Do I really want to, you know, even in any way, whether it’s symbolic or not, contribute to Biden being our nominee? And I struggled, because it’s — do I want to vote for someone who’s supporting a genocide? No.”