Democrats’ Gaza reckoning: how failing to give Palestinians a voice came back to bite the party

Voters rejected many establishment choices this year in favor of candidates pushing accountability for Gaza, writes Akbar Shahid Ahmed

The last time she gathered with fellow Democrats for a pre-election national convention, Georgia state representative Ruwa Romman got an unspoken message from the party establishment: on their biggest stage, she said, There's room for an anti-choice Republican but not for Palestinians". Democratic officials gave speaking slots to an architect of Georgia's strict abortion ban and other conservatives critical of Donald Trump, but they denied a speech from Romman or other Palestinian Americans.

In Democratic primaries this year, voters rejected many of the party establishment's choices, including a 15-term congresswoman in Colorado and the chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. The unlikely winners in all those races emphasized empathy and accountability for Palestinian losses in Gaza; Abdul El-Sayed, who won Michigan's Senate primary, made opposition to the ardently pro-Israel group Aipac central to his candidacy. With 60% of potential Democratic voters in a May poll sympathizing more with Palestinians than Israelis and 48% saying the party has been too supportive of Israel, the base is eager for Democratic leaders to rethink unfettered US-Israel solidarity.