Kamala Harris officially secured the nomination at the Democratic National Convention, securing a staggering 4,567 of the 4,695 available delegates. For reference, presidential candidates only need 1,967 delegates to clinch the nomination.
44 delegates, however, made a point of voting “present” instead of casting their votes for Kamala Harris — likely in a show of solidarity with the vocal and active pro-Palestine movement.
The Daily Caller reports:
Likely among the 44 present votes were the 36 delegate members of the “Uncommitted” protest movement. They say they “feel deeply hurt and betrayed by the President's decisions to continue funding war crimes and the mass killing of Palestinians,” according to their website.
Some members of the Uncommitted movement represent officially uncommitted delegates, like Washington state's Yaz Kader and Sabrene Odeh, according to The Seattle Times. Both voted present during the virtual roll call earlier in August in an effort to pressure Harris to support a ceasefire and an embargo on U.S. weapons to Israel, The Times reported.
Twelve other states joined Washington in relaying present votes. Those states were Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, Ohio, Texas and the home state of Harris' running mate Tim Walz, Minnesota, a Daily Caller review found.
Pro-Palestine protests have been a recurring theme both at the DNC and Kamala Harris rallies. On the Sunday before the DNC, as most attendees were arriving to Chicago, pro-Palestine demonstrators crashed their official welcome party, and a masked woman rushing the stage, seizing the mic to deliver her remarks. She said, “150,000 people are dead. You are furthering a genocide. And the Harris-Biden administration keeps on funding it,” before being removed from the stage.
Pro-Palestine hecklers broke out in disruptive chants at Kamala's Michigan rally, and after a few standard uncomfortable bouts of laughter, she appeared to lose her temper, firmly declaring “I'm speaking!”
At one point, the presidential hopeful was accused of considering an arms embargo on Israel in exchange for votes in Michigan — the state with the highest Muslim population.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter), “Just as we must honor the humanity of hostages, so too must we center the humanity of the 40,000 Palestinians killed under Israeli bombardment. To deny that story is to participate in the dehumanization of Palestinians. The @DNC must change course and affirm our shared humanity.”
As loud and visible as the pro-Palestine movement has been, it has yet to be determined if their activism online and in the streets will translate into anything of consequence on Election Day — especially considering the overwhelming number of delegates the Harris-Walz campaign was able to obtain.
