November 1, 2024, news about the presidential election

Some voters in key battleground states like North Carolina, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania say they want to see a public commitment from Vice President Kamala Harris to take action on Israel’s war in Gaza before they decide to vote for her.

Halah Ahmad: “Nothing feels good about this election,” the Palestinian-American from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, told CNN, describing the regular sense of “shock and horror” she feels when she sees footage of people killed and places destroyed in Gaza.

Ahmad said she cannot guarantee her vote and support for leaders until she is guaranteed an arms embargo or an end to hostilities in Gaza. “I feel most responsible to life — the most fundamental sanctity of life — in this election,” she said. “The only way to operate is to operate from the place of ‘do what I can’ and if there is hope I have to act on it,” she added.

She said she takes the “risk” of a possible Trump presidency “very seriously”, but argued there is also “no viable alternative to genocide on the Democratic ticket”. If Harris loses the election, she said she would hold the vice president and the Democratic Party accountable for her loss.

Reem Abuelhaj: The Philadelphia resident said she plans to go to the polls and vote down, but “will not vote for Vice President Harris unless at some point between now and November 5th she publicly commits to an arms embargo against Israel or achieved permanent ceasefire in Gaza.”

“I am a voter of conscience, and a candidate adamantly promoting a policy of unconditionally arming and funding Israel to continue its genocide in Gaza and escalation in the West Bank and the war in Lebanon is a red flag to me.” she said.

She told CNN the issue is “deeply personal” to her. The Palestinian-American says she knows people who have lost family members in Gaza over the past year and cannot vote for anyone who is part of an administration she sees as responsible.

At a CNN town hall, Harris said she believed people who care about Gaza also care about reproductive freedom and grocery prices, among other things, and might want to vote for her based on those issues.

Meghan Watts: One resident of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, said that having these issues “weaponized” against her “speaks to how disconnected she feels from what people are really concerned about.”

“It shouldn’t be a choice where we either have to accept genocide in exchange for lower groceries or lower rents,” said the PhD student. “It’s a terrible choice to be forced upon us.”

Harris’s position: Harris gave a powerful and remarkable speech on the situation in Gaza in July, echoing President Joe Biden’s repeated comments about the “ironclad support” and “unwavering commitment” to Israel, as well as the need to get the Israeli hostages back from Hamas captivity. The country has a right to defend itself, she said, noting “how it does it matters.” She called for the plight of the people of Gaza, as well as the need to free the Israeli hostages and secure a ceasefire agreement, in her acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention in August. Read more about Harris’s position on Israel’s war in Gaza here.