NY elected officials call for DNC to give speaking slot to Palestinian

As Vice President Kamala Harris prepares to accept the Democratic presidential nomination, the divisions within the party have been on full display as a growing number of elected officials and delegates have expressed support for Uncommitted delegates' demand that a Palestinian American be allowed to speak on the main Democratic National Convention stage. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, state Sen. Jessica Ramos and other progressives from New York have joined the call for the DNC to allow a Palestinian to speak. 

A total of 36 Uncommitted delegates earned their place at the DNC after hundreds of thousands of primary voters chose to vote “uncommitted” (or leave their ballot blank) rather than cast a vote for President Joe Biden during this year’s Democratic primaries. According to Abbas Alawieh, one of Michigan’s uncommitted delegates and a founder of the Uncommitted National Movement, more than 740,000 voters across the country voted uncommitted this year.  The uncommitted primary voters and elected delegates want to push the Harris-Walz ticket to call for a ceasefire in Gaza and arms embargo on Israel. 

The Uncommitted delegates originally asked DNC officials to allow a pediatric doctor who has treated patients in Gaza to be allowed to speak during the convention. When that was rejected, they asked that a Palestinian American politician be given a speaking slot to deliver a pre-vetted speech during the convention. Ruwa Romman, a Palestinian American state representative from Georgia, even wrote a speech praising Harris that she planned to deliver during the convention. On Wednesday, though, the DNC made it clear that it would not allow a Palestinian to speak at the convention.

In response, the Uncommitted delegates began protesting Wednesday night by holding a “sit-in” outside the United Center in Chicago. Elected officials from around the country, including a number of progressive elected officials from New York, have joined their call for a Palestinian to be given a speaking slot at the convention.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who won praise from centrists and party leaders for her primetime speech on Monday, facetimed into the protest on Wednesday night. “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,” Ocasio-Cortez posted on X. “To deny that story is to participate in the dehumanization of Palestinians. The DNC must change course and affirm our shared humanity.”

The New York representative has been outspoken against the war in Gaza and has led calls to cut off American military aid to Israel, accusing Israel of genocide on the House floor in March. But, in her primetime speech at the DNC, she praised Harris for “working tirelessly to secure a cease-fire in Gaza and bring the hostages home.” While Ocasio-Cortez is the most visible New York elected official speaking out against the absence of Palestinian voices from the DNC, she’s not the only one. 

In a Wednesday afternoon X post, Rep. Jamaal Bowman said that Democrats “must commit to uplifting the shared humanity of all people & recognize that the loss of human life is always tragic, regardless of nationality, religion, or race,” and called for the DNC to “live up to these values” by inviting Palestinians to speak during main programming.

New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, a New York DNC delegate who recently announced his mayoral candidacy, wrote on X that Democrats should “listen to Palestinian-American voices.” Lander also praised Rachel Goldberg and Jon Polin, parents of an American Israeli hostage who spoke at the DNC on Wednesday night, for their acknowledgment of the suffering among Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

State Sen. Jessica Ramos shared an excerpt of Romman’s speech in a Thursday afternoon X post, calling her speech “so powerful.” Ramos said the strength of the Democratic party lies in the fact that it values “compassion as a tool of governance,” adding that she hopes Romman will be able to articulate that thought Thursday night.

Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, told City & State criticized the DNC for excluding Palestinian voices. “Democrats across the country support a ceasefire and an arms embargo. They are rightfully outraged over Israel’s killing of over 40,000 Palestinians and they want to see our principles put into practice,” he said in a statement. “And yet, at the same convention where our party platform states, ‘we will speak and act with clarity and purpose on behalf of human rights wherever they are under threat,’ the DNC is denying Palestinian-Americans the platform to follow through on those very words. The promise of unity, diversity, and joy ring hollow when it’s revealed to be premised on such exclusion. Truly embodying the values of our platform, and embracing the unity that’s required at this moment to defeat Donald Trump, would mean granting a slot on stage tonight to a Palestinian-American speaker.”

Other DSA members in the state Legislature, including state Sen. Jabari Brisport and Assembly Member Phara Souffrant Forrest, expressed similar sentiments. Brisport wrote on X that having a Palestinian-American primetime speaker is a “matter of fairness and justice” that the DNC “owes” Democratic voters — especially those who voted Uncommitted. He said the DNC “should acknowledge” that those voters support an arms embargo and ceasefire. 

In a statement to City & State, Assembly Member Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas said that she supported the Uncommitted delegates’ call for a Palestinian to be represented in the DNC’s primetime speeches. “I fully support the Uncommitted movement’s call for a Palestinian to speak on the stage of the DNC and address delegates,” she said. “Our Democracy is only as strong as our diversity and all voices should be heard in our collective goal to secure a ceasefire and prevent further deaths.”

González-Rojas also joined other state legislators and nine members of the New York City Council in signing on to a letter urging Harris and the DNC to include a Palestinian speaker in primetime programming. “The pain and suffering of hostage families have been rightfully highlighted and acknowledged on national platforms,” the letter reads. “We believe it is equally important to create space for the Palestinian experience, which has been marked by decades of hardship, loss, and displacement.”