Uncommitted delegates have been staging a sit-in outside the Democratic National Convention hall after being informed last night that a Palestinian American would not get be given a speaking slot in the event.
In response, a number of progressive lawmakers and officials, as well the United Auto Workers, have called on the Harris campaign and DNC officials to reverse the decision.
Several progressive lawmakers have issued public statements of support for a Palestinian speaker on the final night of the convention, including Reps. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn.; Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich.; Summer Lee, D-Pa.; Delia Ramirez, D-Ill.; Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.; Greg Casar, D-Tex.; Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass.; and Maxwell Frost, D-Fla.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson also endorsed the idea today, as did Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison — who was the first Muslim elected to Congress before running for his current job — and actors and activists Mandy Patinkin and Mark Ruffalo.
“We’re not here to cause trouble, nobody is trying to sneak in or anything. We won delegates. We negotiated with the campaign. We did everything we were supposed to and we can’t even get a symbolic gesture," Georgia state Rep. Ruwa Romman, a Palestinian American who was one the proposed speakers, said through tears Wednesday night.
The Central American immigration issue was the biggest dumping ground of them all. She had no ability to fix the issue, it’s the right’s chosen attack line, and talking tough is unpopular with Democrats. “Important” doesn’t make it a beneficial issue for delegation. There was no “win” in that assignment. When Biden saddled her with that it completely blew apart my prior assumption that the plan was to to do the transitional presidency thing and prep her to run in 2024.
The other two I remember were voting rights and abortion. Again, big important issues for Democrats, but without any possibility for success. She didn’t have the bully pulpit (or Biden’s own support) to shame or threaten the centrists into killing the filibuster, and without that her options just amount to ineffectual talking while women die. Even the efforts the administration did take were reported as coming from Biden, not from Harris (obviously the EOs have to come from the president, but they could have made it sound like her effort). I think he also dumped gun violence on her too. Just a whole heaping pile of issues where the Democrats were incapable of making headway and the right loves to attack.
Meanwhile she was never part of the story on big win issues that just amounted to giving people and states money.