Pro-Palestinian voters remain frustrated with Harris-Walz ticket

The arrests of pro-Palestinian protesters at the University of Minnesota earlier this week are a reminder that progressive voters remain deeply passionate about an end to war in the Middle East.

Some of those voters who see Gaza as their top issue have also historically been highly-engaged volunteers for the DFL. But in the waning days of the campaign, some have had trouble mustering their usual vigor for door knocking.

“Every election cycle, I am knocking doors at least one evening a week and every single Saturday and Sunday,” said Dan Engelhart of Minneapolis. “This cycle, I haven’t been able to.”

After Vice President Kamala Harris was elevated to the top of the Democratic ticket, the DFL reported record numbers of volunteer sign-ups along with a surge of donations. During the first days after Harris became the presumptive nominee, some 600 people signed up to volunteer on Democratic campaigns in Minnesota, according to the DFL.

The DFL Coordinated Campaign said Minnesota volunteers have completed some 14,000 shifts since Harris became the presumptive nominee. Her candidacy has also excited some who voted uncommitted in the primary, including Jim Hepworth of Apple Valley, who was an uncommitted delegate to the Democratic National Convention. “I had a renewed sense of hope when Vice President Harris became our nominee,” Hepworth said in an email.

But some people who volunteered in cycles past have stayed away all year.

Watching results come in during Super Tuesday, a group of the 46,000 Minnesotan voters who voted “uncommitted” said they did not plan to be involved with Democratic campaigns this year, even after working for President Joe Biden’s election in 2020.

“In 2020, I personally made thousands of phone calls,” Walter Fromm of Minneapolis told the Minnesota Star Tribune in March. “Everybody I worked with then is voting uncommitted, too.”

On one of the door-knocking shifts Engelhart worked this year just after Trump and Harris debated in September, he found himself talking to a voter in Stillwater who asked him what he thought about the debate.

“I liked parts of it,” Engelhart told that voter. But being unable to give full-throated, earnest support to Harris, he said, was “demoralizing,” and is keeping him from being as involved as he usually is.

Engelhart has been involved with DFL politics for more than two decades, and was among the leaders of Minnesota’s Uncommitted delegation to the DNC. He said he worked a few volunteer shifts for legislative candidates, but has been uncomfortable talking about the top of the ticket because right now, he said, he is not planning to vote for Harris.

He will vote for U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, he said, for legislative candidates and for the Minneapolis school funding question. But he hopes the non-votes will register his support for candidates who have called for the United States to stop sending arms to Israel.

Harris and running mate Gov. Tim Walz have both called for a cease-fire, but not an arms embargo.

“Far too many innocent Palestinian civilians have been killed. It’s unconscionable,” Harris said during a CNN town hall last week. She said she wanted to see a cease-fire, but did not voice support for an arms embargo, in response to a question about American arms going to Israel.

“It’s time for a hostage deal and cease-fire that ensures Israel is secure, all hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, freedom, and self-determination,” Walz said on this year’s anniversary of Hamas’ 2023 attacks on Israel.

Polls indicate Minnesota will likely break for Harris, but in states where margins will be much tighter, some protest voters are choosing to vote for Harris despite their reservations.

Roman Fritz of Oconomowoc, Wis., voted early for Harris on Wednesday, he said, even though he remains deeply frustrated with her stance on the war.

Neither he nor Engelhart want to see Trump win. The Uncommitted National Movement has been trying to carve out a middle ground between opposing Trump and supporting Harris, with leaders saying a Trump presidency would be worse for Palestinians, and warning that votes for third-party candidates could result in a win for Trump. But the group declined to offer its endorsement to Harris.

Similarly, Fritz said, he did not feel he should talk his friends into voting for Harris, especially Palestinian American friends who have lost loved ones in Gaza.

“I do want her to win,” Fritz said, but, “I’m not going to campaign for her.”

After the initial excitement about Harris, Engelhart said he feels a lack of energy for Harris among people he works and organizes with — which he said feels similar to 2016. People are showing up to volunteer, he said, but “the vibes are off.”

“There was a real hopeful moment when we saw the change at the top of the ticket,” Engelhart said. But he has been put off by not just Harris’ and Walz’s stances on Israel’s wars, but also the campaign’s embrace of Republicans who advocated for war in the Middle East 20 years ago, including former Vice President Dick Cheney.

“What’s going on?” he asked.