CHICAGO – They had all come together to officially present their party’s slate of candidates, but the reasons for their presence at this year’s Democratic Convention were different.
Here are some of the issues delegates said will determine their vote in November.
Democracy and freedom
For Arizona Democratic Party Chairwoman Yolanda Bejarano, voting rights and election integrity issues are central. While the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a Republican-led attempt to bar 41,000 Arizona voters from voting, it allowed the state to require voters to provide proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote in some cases.
“In Arizona, Republicans see our state as a testing ground for these election conspiracy theories,” Bejarano said Monday. “It’s not good for business. It’s not good for our democracy, and we have to defeat it.”
Representative Jamie Raskin’s previous roles as lead manager in the second impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump and as a member of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol are influencing what he sees as his top issues in the 2024 election.
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“The issue of democracy and freedom is central, and democracy and freedom are intertwined,” the Maryland Democrat said in an interview on Monday. “The Trump cult has sought to both destroy our democracy – by taking away the people’s voice and the majority rule through the Electoral College – and to take away our freedom.”
Forrest Genthner, a pastor and delegate from Maine, expressed concern about the rise of Christian nationalism.
“We have to be able to show that the Republican Party is not the party of Christian values,” Genthner said on Monday. “Jesus taught free will and tolerance. I don’t see that in the Republican Party. Here in the Democratic Party, I have seen how people of different faiths, different ethnicities and different sexualities could come together.”
War between Israel and Hamas and calls for a ceasefire
Abbas Alawieh, co-founder of the national movement Undecided, said in an interview on Sunday that the country needs to change its policy towards the war between Israel and Hamas.
“The 30 uncommitted delegates sent here in unprecedented (and) historic fashion are here to give a voice to voters across the country who say we need a different approach,” Alawieh said.
Another Uncommitted delegate, Rory Strahan-Mauk of Hawaii, said he expects Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, to reject President Joe Biden’s approach to the war between Israel and Hamas.
“It would show me that that demand is being met, that there is real belief in coming out, because this is not something that you can have discussions or conversations about in secluded circles and then say, ‘Oh, trust us. We’re trying to do better. We’re trying to reach a ceasefire,'” Strahan-Mauk said Tuesday. “We need to see that happen. We need to see action taken.”
character
But for other delegates, it is neither policy proposals nor issues being debated in Washington that determine their votes. For West Virginia delegate Kathryn Prather, Harris’ character is the most important thing.
“I really want to have someone in the Oval Office that I can look up to,” she said Wednesday. “Harris is someone who clearly cares about others who are less fortunate than she is.”
