Objections to U.S. policy over the war in Gaza led six of Hawaii’s 31 delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago to withhold their support for Vice President Kamala Harris following internal debate.
In all, 23 Hawaii delegates voted to nominate Harris during Tuesday’s roll call vote announced by Gov. Josh Green, six remained uncommitted in protest over Gaza and two failed to meet the deadline to register their votes online ahead of the convention.
The dissenters joined similar protests by delegates from Michigan, where a majority population of Arab Americans lives in Dearborn, followed by delegates from Minnesota, according to Hawaii “super delegate” Bart Dame of Aina Haina, who’s attending his fifth Democratic convention and withheld his vote.
As a veteran of Democratic Party politics, Dame said, “I’m usually the liaison from the left to the institutional members of the party. Usually I’m trying to calm down the activists, but they’re fundamentally right on this.”
There were several “polite and respectful” discussions among the Hawaii delegation, those who wanted to withhold their votes and the majority who argued that their focus should be on
getting Harris elected and ensuring former President Donald Trump does not return to the White House, said Hawaii delegate and
Honolulu Council member Tyler Dos Santos-Tam.
Dos Santos-Tam was among those who argued that “we’re here to nominate someone who’s going to defeat Donald Trump,” he said. “There was a healthy dialogue. The six uncommitted, for sure, have been very vocal and passionate about opposing the current policy about the conflict in Gaza, and they wanted to send that message. It’s obviously a fraught question, and it’s an issue that has split the Democratic Party.”
All of Hawaii’s nine superdelegates — who were free to vote for whomever they wanted — voted for Harris, including Green and Hawaii’s congressional delegation, said Hawaii Democratic Party Chair Derek Turbin, who is also a superdelegate.
The dissent among the Hawaii delegation was part of the broader protest over U.S. support for Israel both inside the convention and outside, which has seen
arrests of protesters.
“Multiple other delegations also had uncommitted votes,” Turbin said.
During internal discussions over Gaza among the Hawaii delegation, Turbin said the dissenters “were given the floor to express their views.”
But Turbin also was among the delegates who
argued, “We’ve got to elect Kamala Harris. We’ve got to beat Trump and keep bad policies like Project 2025, cutting Social Security and Medicaid out of the White House. Trump is a threat to democracy.”
Dame called the discussions amid the Hawaii delegation “respectful,” notably by Green and U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, who are both Jewish.
They were “both respectful of our positions,” Dame said.
Some of the dissident delegates wanted to wave protest signs during Tuesday’s roll call vote but were convinced otherwise, Dame said.
“There were some little spats but nothing serious,” he said.
He’s been working to shape U.S. policy regarding Israel for years, and in 2008 helped draft the Hawaii Democratic Party’s “very strong policy that we respect the need for self-
determination and the national aspirational needs and security for both people,” as Dame described it.
Dame, 71, described himself as a retired “wallpaper hanger who lives on Social Security … an Irish-English, Catholic atheist, Episcopal atheist, soft Buddhist. … I’m just a non-Jewish haole guy, but I got stuck in the middle.”
After working with much younger delegates in their 30s from Michigan — many of whom lost family in Gaza and doctors who regularly volunteer to treat the wounded — Dame has
become passionate about changing U.S. support for
Israel and its war in Gaza.
He hopes the uncommitted votes of dissent for Harris’ nomination this week helps convince her to change the Biden administration’s support for Israel, specifically by banning weapons to Israel.
In the Michigan primary election, Democratic organizers wanted voters to cast 10,000 “uncommitted” delegate votes while Biden was still running for the nomination.
Instead they received 101,000 uncommitted votes in a show of widespread opposition in Michigan — especially in Dearborn and Ann Arbor, a college town where the youth vote will be critical, Dame said.
Michigan delegates want to be able to tell Democrats back home that Harris will change U.S. support for Israel in order to win their support, Dame said,
“The base was angry as hell at the Biden administration’s unconditional support for (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu and his attacks,” Dame said. “Why is the U.S. allowing this to happen and financing it? We just approved $20 billion in new weapons for Israel. The U.S. government is abetting illegal activity.”
Dame agreed that Hawaii delegates argued that withholding support for Harris could lead to a Trump
victory.
But Dame countered that Harris can’t win if she loses support in swing states like Michigan.
In the weeks leading up to the Nov. 5 presidential election, “Gaza is going to reemerge as a major organizing issue,” Dame said. “The Harris campaign has to worry about winning over the college kids who can deliver the margin of victory.”
“Most people want Harris to win,” Dame said. “We also want Harris to win. But people respect that we’re taking a principled stand.”
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