Uncommitted DNC delegates say they aren’t a threat to democracy —they’re trying to save it

With President Joe Biden out of the presidential race and Vice President Kamala Harris now taking over as the likely Democratic nominee, Democratic leaders in Michigan and nationwide are calling for the party to unity behind Harris to win the election.

Abbas Alawieh is one of two uncommitted delegates among the 138 from Michigan. In February Michigan held its presidential primary that Biden won, which netted him the majority of the state’s delegates. Progressives and pro-Palestinian activists organized a movement to vote “uncommitted” in the primary to protest Biden’s support for Israel in its war with Hamas. That resulted in two uncommitted delegates. , There also are 21 unpledged delegates who are primarily elected officials and are not bound to support Harris.

He told the Advance last week that he and the other 35 uncommitted delegates nationwide would love to see more unity in the Democratic Party, but unity has to be for the benefit of all Democrats, including Palestinian Americans and Arab Americans.

“I think it’s important to note that in this moment, where people in the Arab-American community here in Michigan are experiencing a deep level of pain, it has felt like too many statewide elected officials and other elected officials have just tried to pretend like that pain isn’t there. … The outreach to our community needs to be a lot stronger from the Democratic Party,” Alawieh said.

There was a call last week attended by more than 100 Michigan delegates to discuss if they wanted to commit to voting for Harris at next month’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago now that Biden has withdrawn. Harris already has enough committed delegates to be the nominee.

Alawieh and a handful of other delegates were explaining on the call why they can’t support Harris without meaningful change in the foreign policy towards Gaza. Alawieh said someone interrupted and said, “Shut up, asshole.”

No one on the call promptly pushed back or chastised the person, Alawieh said, which was hurtful considering he is bound to represent the more than 100,000 Michiganders who voted uncommitted in the Democratic presidential primary.

“For no one to push back on the call felt consistent with the culture of dehumanizing Palestinians and being okay with anti-Palestinian racism,” Alawieh said. “I hope we can be better about that as a party.”

House Majority Floor Leader Abraham Aiyash (D-Hamtramck), a vocal supporter of the “uncommitted” movement, rescinded to Alawieh’s post about the call on “X” saying Democrats are squandering their chance to win in November if they continue to shut down members of the movement.

“This culture that tells members of our party to shut up because we want a pro-peace, anti-war platform and a nominee that dignifies the humanity of the Palestinians (which a MAJORITY of Dems support!) is a losing strategy for November,” Aiyash wrote.

Delegates who spoke to the Michigan Advance said the meeting was short. Because the majority of the delegation had a consensus for Harris, the group took some time to hear from individuals who are advocating for Harris to speak with members of the uncommitted movement to talk about foreign policy.

“What I experienced … was a level of anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian vitriol that elected officials from across the state failed to push back on and that does not feel disconnected from a reality where it feels like our elected officials are disconnected from the pain that the Arab-American community is feeling right now. So my hope is that the Michigan Democratic Party will do better,” Alawieh said.

After the call, Alawieh said he spoke with Michigan Democratic Party Chair Lavora Barnes and she said she would try and elevate the request from the uncommitted movement to the Harris campaign.

“The disrespect shown to a member of our delegation was completely unacceptable. We know that we are one Democratic family — our differences and the way we respond to them are what make us strong,” Barnes said in a statement after the meeting. “In this moment, we want to reiterate that our Arab American and Muslim brothers and sisters are welcome in this party. We will continue to work toward our common goal of defeating Republicans up and down the ballot this November.”

In Rhode Island, June Rose is the only uncommitted delegate in the state.

Michigan Democratic delegates vote to give Harris their support for president

Rose stood alone on Wednesday voting against endorsing Harris, telling the Rhode Island Current that it is critical to defeat President Donald Donald Trump. While their hope is to support Harris, she will have to “clearly oppose the genocide of Palestinians.”

Rose also stands in support of Alawieh.

“Abbas is a movement leader who inspires so many of us across the country to fight harder against the senseless murder of Palestinians,” Rose said in a text to the Michigan Advance. “Abbas leads with empathy and integrity, and deserves nothing but respect. Michigan is lucky to have him and our party will be better off because of him.”

Attempts to paint the uncommitted movement as feeding Democratic infighting that will help Trump win, fail to address the core of the movement, Waleed Shahid, a Democratic strategist tied to the movement said on “X” Wednesday. Rather than ignore the fact that hundreds of thousands of Democratic voters were likely to skip this election, disillusioned by Biden’s Gaza policies, the uncommitted movement called on affected individuals to vote.

“We know the stakes are high in this election and that is why we started this campaign to save lives and put the Democratic Party in the best position to earn the votes to defeat Trump,” Shahid said. “The greatest form of respect you can have for an institution is holding it to a higher standard. That is the core of this movement.”

Michigan Advance is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Michigan Advance maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Susan J. Demas for questions: info@michiganadvance.com. Follow Michigan Advance on Facebook and X.