Former aides from Kamala Harris’ 2020 presidential campaign have been collecting signatures and circulating a letter that calls on Vice President Harris to “seek an immediate ceasefire” in Israel’s war in Gaza, Politico reported.
Politico obtained a draft of the circulated letter in which the former Harris campaign aides offer a perfunctory expression of grief over the Israeli civilians massacred on October 7 and then quickly accuse the Israeli government of exploiting the civilian deaths to launch a “retaliatory and genocidal campaign” against Palestinians.
While the vice president’s office refused to comment on the letter, staffers who worked for Harris in the past dismissed the letter as a stunt that unfairly targeted Harris.
The Biden administration’s unwavering support for Israel has put the White House at odds with many Democrat voters, particularly among Muslim voters in Michigan who were a key voting bloc in helping the Biden/Harris ticket win the state in 2020.
Politico previously reported that in preparing his October 12 address to the nation, President Biden scrapped an earlier version of his speech that included “both sides” rhetoric over the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
Even before the deadly October 7 attacks, Democrat voters had begun shifting away from Israel.
According to a Gallup poll from March, a plurality of Democrats, 49 percent, said they were more sympathetic to Palestinians. Only 38 percent of Democrats said they were more sympathetic to Israel.
A group of progressive lawmakers in both the Senate and the House have called on President Biden to seek a ceasefire. The lawmakers have expressed skepticism toward Israel and sympathy for Palestinian civilians in Gaza.
During an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal, the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, suggested that President Biden’s support for Israel could cost him support from Democrat voters in the 2024 election.
Jayapal also made the outlandish claim that the “majority of Congress” and the majority of American voters are “quite far away” from the president on the issue of support for Israel.
