Meet the ‘uncommitted’: How Gaza hangs over Democratic National Convention

Chicago, Illinois – The “uncommitted” delegates at the Democratic National Convention in the United States have a message for their party: “Help us help you.”
Approximately 30 such delegates earned a spot at the convention in Chicago after hundreds of thousands of people voted “uncommitted” in the Democratic primaries, in protest of President Joe Biden’s unconditional support for Israel’s war in Gaza.
Since then, Biden has withdrawn from the 2024 presidential race, and Vice President Kamala Harris has replaced him on the Democratic ticket.
Still, the war in Gaza remains a flashpoint dividing the Democratic Party. Many of the “uncommitted” delegates say they want Harris to win — but they also want her to listen to the antiwar voters who elected them to the convention.
Only with their support can she succeed on election day, several delegates told Al Jazeera.
The “uncommitted” movement started with the Listen to Michigan campaign in February. A grassroots protest movement, Listen to Michigan encouraged the state’s primary voters to cast protest votes — and its push exceeded expectations, winning more than 13 percent of the vote.
Then the movement went national. Voters across the country cast enough “uncommitted” ballots to send delegates from states like Hawaii, Washington and Minnesota to the convention.
Those delegates are using their presence at the convention to demand a commitment to an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and an arms embargo against Israel, which has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians over the past 10 months.
To make their case, the delegates are arguing that, without a meaningful change in policy, large parts of the party base — including young voters, Arabs, Muslims and progressives — will not be energised to elect Harris in November.
At the convention this week, uncommitted delegates and their allies are making themselves visible with keffiyehs and lapel pins calling for an end to weapon transfers to Israel.
Al Jazeera spoke to several uncommitted delegates in Chicago. Here’s what they had to say.
Kader, a delegate from Washington state, says the “uncommitted” movement has allowed people to use a “powerful” civic tool — voting — to protest the atrocities in Gaza.
“We have to work within the system that we have. And we are showing right now that political pressure can be applied from within,” Kader told Al Jazeera.
“And furthermore, the Democratic base here is in agreement with us. We can make those changes. We’ve already seen some of the changes in language. We need to make changes with policy.”
The 35-year-old Palestinian American medical professional arrived at the convention draped in a keffiyeh decorated with a pin. “Not another bomb,” it read.
Kader added that it has been “very tough” seeing what Palestinians in Gaza are enduring.
“There are US laws and international laws that are already on the books. We just need to apply them and make sure that this can never happen again,” he said.
“Our laws do not allow for 16,000 children to be killed in Palestine. There has been this exception made for the Israeli government and military, and it’s not OK.”
Alawieh, a Michigan delegate and one of the leaders of the “uncommitted” movement, says he has not been getting much sleep as he works to advance the campaign’s goals.
“It feels like a big responsibility to the voters who sent us here, who sent me here,” Alawieh told Al Jazeera.
“I also feel a big responsibility to our Palestinian community members who are counting on us to push as hard as we can for Palestinian human rights. I also feel a responsibility to my own family in south Lebanon, who want to know when the bombing that’s happening all around them is going to stop. It feels like a big weight, and I’m trying to remember to drink water.”
Odeh, a delegate from Washington state, says it has been “incredibly depressing” being a Palestinian American during the war on Gaza.
At the same time, she said it is a “huge honour” to represent Palestinian rights supporters at the convention in Chicago.
“Our messages are very clear: We want a permanent, immediate ceasefire, and we want an arms embargo. Everything else comes after. We just need an end to the violence and to the slaughtering of the Palestinian people,” she told Al Jazeera.
Ellison, a Minneapolis City Council member, said the war in Gaza is affecting people across Minnesota, not just Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims.
He dismissed criticisms that the “uncommitted” movement helps Republican candidate Donald Trump by splitting the Democratic base, calling the idea “silly”.
“We are here as delegates in the party,” Ellison told Al Jazeera, explaining that he and other delegates are “participating in the process that the party built” to make themselves heard.
“If we had an interest in helping Donald Trump win, we would not have become delegates to the DNC. We would have saved our money, saved our time, and we would have gone and told people how to vote in November,” he said.
“We’re here now at the DNC, trying to get this party to adopt really popular policies across the Democratic Party.”
Ellison stressed that the uncommitted delegates are “not doing it alone”, saying that many voters care about the issue and want an end to the atrocities in Gaza.
Chan Hodges, an uncommitted delegate from Hawaii, says she wants Harris to win, but the “only way” the vice president can beat Trump is by listening to the concerns of voters, particularly young people.
Chief among those concerns, she added, is the war in Gaza.
“I’m 61. My kids are 26 and 27. My friends and my peers, we all have kids the same age, and we’re all hearing the same thing where those kids who are raised in progressive households, who are super-smart and super-engaged, are not necessarily going to come out and vote,” Chan Hodges told Al Jazeera.
“Of course, they’re not just the voters. They’re the organisers. They’re the next generation. And we need every vote we can get.”
Chan Hodges said her keffiyeh-patterned scarf — emblazoned with the phrase “Democrats for Palestinian rights” — has been received well by delegates and supporters at the convention.
“This scarf is so popular,” she said. “I think that just reflects what we already know: that 80 percent of Democrats want to see a ceasefire, and a majority want to see an arms embargo.”
Mohammad, a delegate from Michigan, says the “uncommitted” movement brought people together to reject the war in Gaza.
Mohammad, who serves as a school board trustee in Ann Arbor, pointed to the movement’s strong results in her home state.
For example, during the Democratic primary in February, Washtenaw County — a liberal stronghold that is home to the University of Michigan — saw 17 percent of voters back the “uncommitted” campaign.
While the Midwestern swing state is home to large Arab and Muslim communities, Mohammad said people of all backgrounds are unhappy with Washington’s support for Israel.
She added that Michigan is “crucial” to Harris’s election chances.
“I am worried that, if there is no strong statement from Vice President Harris coming out for a permanent, immediate ceasefire and an arms embargo, she will lose Michigan,” Mohammad told Al Jazeera.