PITTSBURGH – Pro-Palestinian voters in battleground Pennsylvania could spoil Kamala Harris’ candidacy, if one Pittsburgh progressive who spoke with The Post is any indication.
The Harris campaign deployed volunteers on Saturday for a day of door-knocking across Steel City, where the veep stayed over the weekend to prepare for Tuesday’s debate, but was met with protesters clanging noisemakers and chanting “Free Palestine” outside her hotel.
While out canvassing for Harris, volunteers struggled to sell the VP’s message to at least one voter, a man who identified himself to The Post as Kevin B.
Approaching Kevin’s home in Pittsburgh’s Bloomfield neighborhood, the Democratic door-knockers noticed a poster of the Palestinian flag in the window.
Asked if he plans to cast a vote for Harris, Kevin said he still wasn’t sure — but when asked to name his most important issue, he didn’t hesitate to say, “Israel.”
“The main issue for why I wouldn’t vote for the Democrats is the Israel issue,” the 30-year-old EMT told The Post, referring to the Israel-Hamas war. “We are not only siding with but funding, taking money away from ourselves and our citizens to fund a foreign government’s genocide.”
“I don’t like how the Democrats have handled it either,” responded Sonia, one of the Harris volunteers. “But it’s the lesser of two evils here,” she added.
The No Ceasefire No Vote campaign is organizing voters to refuse to support Harris in November’s election — until either a permanent cease-fire is reached or the VP commits to an arms embargo on Israel.
In April, over 60,000 Pennsylvania Democrats voted against President Biden in the state primary at the urging of the pro-Palestinian group Uncommitted PA.
Biden only won Pennsylvania in 2020 by 80,000 votes.
In 2024, Kevin may be among the decisive few who will help determine the direction of Pennsylvania’s 19 electoral votes. Undecided about Harris, he’s considering casting his ballot for Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate, who supports an arms embargo.
A poll conducted in late August found that 25% of Muslim voters in Pennsylvania plan to vote for Stein, while 37% would support Harris and 19% were undecided.
Though Harris has acknowledged the Israeli invasion of Gaza has killed “far too many civilians,” she has maintained her support for Israel’s right to defend itself, including in Tuesday night’s presidential debate with former President Donald Trump.
During the debate, the VP reiterated that Israel has a right to defend itself, though “how it does so matters,” and called again for a two-state solution in which there must be security for Israelis and Palestinians “in equal measure.”
Israel has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians since Hamas’ October 7 terror attack, which killed 1,200 Israeli civilians and took over 240 people hostage.
Today about 100 people remain in captivity in Gaza, but many of the remaining hostages are believed to be dead. In August, the US approved the sale of $20 billion worth of fighter jets and other weapons to Israel.
“How long do the people have to take the short end of the stick?” Kevin said. “We’re suffering as a country with cost of living, food, gas, and we’re giving money to fund a genocide of people.”
“The Democrats like to push this progressive narrative, take the moral high ground with Republicans, on gun control, voting rights, Black Lives Matter,” he told The Post. “But do they actually believe in those things? Or do they think that stance is going to get them votes?”
Kevin pointed to the 2016 Democratic Party, which “pushed out the progressive candidate” Bernie Sanders in favor of Hillary Clinton.
He also pointed to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), a member of the far-left Squad who recently called Stein “predatory” for siphoning votes away from the Democrats.
“They are trying to manipulate people into voting for them,” Kevin said, lamenting that part of the party’s game to get elected means pressuring progressives to vote against their conscience.
That game may include accepting the endorsement of Republican former Vice President Dick Cheney, a chief architect of the Iraq War, who Kevin says is “a f–king war criminal.”
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“It’s not the people’s fault. It is your fault, as the Democratic Party, for self-sabotaging the election,” he said.
At one point in the conversation with Kevin, another Harris volunteer named Linda tried to switch gears to discuss abortion rights.
“I am pro-choice and very disheartened by Roe v. Wade being overturned,” he said, but under Trump, “The world did not fall apart.”
Linda later told The Post she knew that her digression wouldn’t change Kevin’s mind, but is holding out hope for others in Pennsylvania to go her way.
“In the moment, I was disappointed,” she said. “But there will be other undecided voters to support Harris.”
