CHICAGO — Vice President Kamala Harris — the daughter of immigrants, raised in the Oakland flatlands — accepted the Democratic nomination for president on Thursday night at the United Center. For the bleeding-heart, coconut-pilled liberals thrilled by Harris’ shock ascension to the top of the ticket one month ago, the convention festivities Thursday night might have felt a little deflating: speeches addressed squarely to Republican voters, throngs of Democrats waving miniature American flags, and Harris proclaiming her intention to “ensure America always has the strongest, most lethal fighting force in the world.”
The Harris’ campaign, it seemed, was making a clear play to boost the font size of the descriptors “strong,” “tough,” and “patriotic” in those word clouds that depict how voters view the candidate. She was making the predictable pivot to the general election, seeking to earn the support of the slim and elusive segment of the electorate that is both battleground state-based and without a strong allegiance to one party.
But amid the evening’s jingoist spectacle — featuring an appearance by former CIA director Leon Panetta, who recalled the day he ordered the targeted killing of Osama bin Laden, and promised Harris would be “a tough, cool-headed commander in chief” — one of the most forceful reactions from the crowd came when Harris spoke of ending a war: the conflict in Gaza, where more than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed over the last 10 months.
“Let me be clear: I will always stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself and I will always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself,” Harris said. “The people of Israel must never again face the horror that the terrorist organization Hamas caused on October 7, including unspeakable sexual violence and the massacre of young people at a music festival.”
She went on: “At the same time, what has happened in Gaza over the past 10 months is devastating. So many innocent lives lost. Desperate, hungry people fleeing for safety, over and over again. The scale of suffering is heartbreaking. President [Joe] Biden and I are working to end this war such that Israel is secure, the hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, security, freedom, and self-determination.”
The crowd thundered in approval, a response that tracks with polls indicating more than three-quarters of Democratic voters — and 61 percent of voters of any party — support a permanent cease-fire and a de-escalation of the violence in Gaza.
The fact that Harris used this moment, with more than 26 million watching from home, to issue a forceful call for Palestinian human rights was actually remarkable: As one former DNC official said earlier this week, the word Palestine had only been mentioned twice at any Democratic National Convention in the past 40 years. And there is an argument to be made that Harris herself taking up the call for Palestinian freedom and self-determination is a bigger coup than a brief speaking slot of the kind the Uncommitted delegates were seeking.
In a statement on Friday, Abbas Alawieh, co-founder of the Uncommitted National Movement, said the decision by the Harris campaign not to allow a speaker was a “clear mistake” and a “missed opportunity.”
At the same time, Alawieh added the request was “part of a larger strategy to save lives and help save our democracy. That push ultimately allowed us to communicate to millions of people about the hypocrisy embedded within our party, and it allowed us to lift up our common sense demands for an arms embargo, for equal rights, and for freedom for all.”
The dispute demonstrates the difficult balance Harris must strike between now and November to preserve a fragile, existing coalition, while inviting even more into the tent.
Yaz Kader, an uncommitted delegate from Washington state, spent Wednesday night sleeping outside the United Center as part of the sit-in protesting the party’s decision not to allow a Palestinian-American or a health care worker an opportunity to address the convention. He said he was more impressed by the crowd’s reaction to Harris’ words, than the words themselves.
“She continues to say that she’s working hard and around the clock. I’m not sure what that means… Those words continue to be empty,” Kader said. “The positive thing is when she did talk about Gaza, the roar from the delegates in support was palpable. It was palpable. And [that roar] felt like it was for me.”
He hoped that Harris — and the Biden administration — would heed the calls to stop supplying arms to Israel. “I hope that Vice President Harris can make that change,” he said. “I’m still uncommitted.”
As delegates, journalists, and politicians trickled out of the convention center on Thursday night, they were greeted by a small cadre protesters who appeared to have made up their minds: they held signs that read “Abandon Harris ‘24” and “Killer Kamala: Do Not Come For Our Votes.”
At the Billy Goat Tavern just outside the security perimeter, bedraggled Democrats still in their lanyards and light-up fedoras, toting souvenir KAMALA signs and miniature flags, scarfed down late-night cheeseburgers. An elderly white woman with a keffiyeh draped across her shoulders surveyed the crowd. “I gotta get out of here, I’m getting dirty around these people,” she said, then turned heel and walked out the door. As she left, two more delegates walked in.
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