A Biden ally wades into the Gaza rift and emerges with a warning
Ahead of Michigan’s presidential primaries on Tuesday, President Biden has stayed out of the state, where he faces a campaign from liberal activists frustrated by his continued support for Israel in the Gaza war.
But another Democrat waded into the contentious debate and tore apart the party’s coalition.
Representative Ro Khanna of California last week took on the unofficial role of mediating between Democrats dissatisfied with Mr. Biden’s Middle East policies and Biden allies like himself. He met with students, Arab-American leaders and progressive voters, many of whom said they are withholding their support for Mr. Biden, at least for now.
He was blunt about his takeaway.
“We cannot win Michigan with a status quo policy,” Mr. Khanna, who has pushed for a ceasefire, said in an interview, adding that change would come in “a matter of weeks, not months.” should come.
“Every day that passes where we see the bombings of women and children on social media or cable news is not a good day for our party,” he said.
Mr Khanna’s assessment is the latest warning sign for Mr Biden about a swing state he narrowly won in 2020. The state is home to a large and increasingly disaffected Arab-American community, whose leaders have been pressuring the White House for months to call for a ceasefire in a war that has killed about 29,000 people in Gaza since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7. In recent weeks, activists have begun urging Democrats to express their anger by marking their primary ballots as “not captured” rather than voting for Mr. Biden.
Biden last campaigned in the state early this month, when he spoke to members of the United Auto Workers union in Warren, Michigan, and faced protests from some pro-Palestinian activists. Vice President Kamala Harris also faced protesters last week when she came to discuss abortion policy at a round table in Grand Rapids, Michigan, far from the Detroit metropolitan area where much of the war-related discontent is concentrated.
A handful of other Democrats, including Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Rep. Joyce Beatty of Ohio, stood in Michigan on behalf of the president this weekend.
Mr. Khanna, a four-term congressman who has sought to raise his national profile in recent years and who backed Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont for president in 2020, often serves as a surrogate for the Biden campaign and has popped up in New Hampshire and South Carolina will defend him ahead of the recent Democratic primaries. But he said his attendance at last week’s rallies in Michigan was in a personal capacity and not as a Biden surrogate — although the visit was approved by the Biden campaign.
Mr. Khanna answered questions about the war from students at the University of Michigan. He attended a rally to get corporate money out of politics along with Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, the only member of Michigan’s congressional delegation to support the “uncommitted” effort. And he met with elected and community leaders who withheld their support for Mr. Biden.
In public remarks and private conversations, Mr. Khanna said Democrats needed to better recognize the party’s changing base and concerns about the conflict, noting Michigan’s sizable young, black and Arab-American voters.
But whether he can actually push the president to change his policy on the war is unclear. Mr Biden has not called for a permanent ceasefire, even as he has said Israel must do more to prevent civilian casualties.
On Friday, the Biden administration reversed Trump-era policies on settlements in the occupied West Bank, as Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken called new settlements “contrary to international law.” That may not be enough to satisfy his opponents in Michigan, who said at rallies last weekend that restoring ties with the government would require at least a permanent ceasefire.
“There has to be a change in policy, and once we have the change in policy, then there has to be some time for healing,” Mr. Khanna acknowledged in a conversation with Mika’il Stewart Saadiq, an imam in Detroit. who supported Mr. Biden ahead of the 2020 primaries but planned to vote “uncommitted” on Tuesday.
“You have to give us something to campaign for,” Mr. Saadiq told Mr. Khanna, pointing to a call for a ceasefire and the recognition of a Palestinian state. Otherwise, he added, “we’re in trouble.”
At meetings, Mr. Khanna peppered attendees with questions about what they wanted out of the White House and what it would take for Mr. Biden to win Michigan. He met with leaders including Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud denied a meeting with Mr. Biden’s campaign manager last month.
Former Rep. Andy Levin of Michigan, another proponent of the “uncommitted” effort, saw a similarly grim picture for Democrats: This is reported by the Associated Presstelling Mr Khanna that if the election were to take place tomorrow, “it would be a disaster for the Democrats.”
Mr Khanna does not support the move to vote “uncommitted” – he said if he were a Michigan resident he would vote for Mr Biden. And he is not among those who say the campaign is only propelling former President Donald J. Trump to victory in the state, as the state’s governor, Gretchen Whitmer, has proposed in recent days.
Mr. Trump won Michigan in 2016 by more than 10,000 votes, the amount of support backers of the “uncommitted” effort expect to receive on Tuesday.
“I admire people who use their rights as American citizens to cast their vote in a way that they believe will bring about policy change,” Mr. Khanna said.
Supporters of the “uncommitted” campaign reject the idea that they are helping elect a former president who campaigned on anti-Muslim rhetoric.
“It’s incredibly disrespectful when people say that the communities that have felt the impact of Donald Trump more than anyone else don’t understand the danger of Donald Trump — it’s actually the opposite,” said Democratic Majority Leader Abraham Aiyash. Michigan House of Representatives. , said after a discussion with Mr Khanna and another state representative, Ranjeev Puri.
“We absolutely understand,” he continued, “and I think the question then becomes posed to the White House: When a community tells you, ‘We know how dangerous Donald Trump is, but what you’re doing right now is a despicable case. moral failure’, then that has to resonate somehow.’
For some, Mr. Khanna’s presence demonstrated how Democrats supporting Mr. Biden could handle a backlash to his administration’s policies. Adam Lacasse, co-chairman of the College Democrats at the University of Michigan, said he was impressed by the way Mr. Khanna “reconciles supporting a ceasefire with supporting President Biden, because that is something that many students generally support. one or the other, but not both.”
Asked how he strikes the balance between supporting the president and acknowledging the concerns of his critics, Mr. Khanna told The New York Times that “the biggest thing I can do is help bring about change abroad.” policy, which I believe is what we need to win back these voters.”
Yet perhaps the meetings also served as a way for Mr. Khanna to boost his own image in a state of struggle: In conversations, Mr. Khanna often made points about his economic platform or the achievements he had brought to his district brought.
Mr Khanna was noncommittal about whether he had presidential ambitions himself. “Who knows what the future will bring?” he said. “What I would say, however, is that I will be one of the advocates for our party moving in a direction that recognizes the modern Democratic coalition.”