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“We are demanding a roll-call vote so that every DNC member is accountable for where they stand in this historic moment.”

By Jon Queally, Common Dreams

Those hoping that Democratic Party leaders have finally learned some lessons in the political thrashing they received in last year’s elections are not yet done fighting for a resolution they argue would put the party back on the right side of moral history and also improve its prospects going forward against an increasingly authoritarian Republican Party led by President Donald Trump.

A day following a failed vote in the resolutions committee, members of the Democratic National Committee and grassroots groups demanding the DNC to take a stronger stand against US complicity with Israel’s genocide in Gaza are not giving up—pushing now for a full floor vote to take place Wednesday on a resolution which calls for an immediate ceasefire, an arms embargo, and suspension of military aid to Israel.

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“The DNC membership has the power to stand up and let the public see where Democrats really stand,” said Allison Minnerly, the 26-year-old DNC member from Florida who introduced Resolution 18 before the resolutions committee, in a statement Tuesday night after the measure was rejected earlier in the day with a voice vote at the party’s summer gathering in Minneapolis.

“A roll-call vote is the minimum standard of transparency in a democracy,” said Minnerly in her statement, backed by allies within the DNC ranks as well as outside groups.

“A roll-call vote is the minimum standard of transparency in a democracy.” —Allison Minnerly

Following the committee vote rejecting Resolution 18, chair of the College Democrats, Sunjay Muralitharan, bemoaned the defeat, including that no chance was offered for friendly amendments. “This move isn’t just unjust, it’s politically ineffective,” he said. “Support for Israel’s actions is in the single digits within our party’s base. Deeply disappointed in this decision.”

DNC chairman Ken Martin, who had introduced a competing resolution, Resolution 3, later took the unusual step of withdrawing his milqetoast proposal on Gaza after it passed the committee. In its place, he called for the creation of a task force to further discuss the issue.

“There’s divide in our party on this issue,” Martin said as he withdrew his resolution in favor of further discussion. “We have to find a path forward as a party, and we have to stay unified.”

 

 

Minnerly and her coalition, however, say the issue is too important—and the conditions in Gaza, where a famine has been designated by the world’s leading authority on such matters, too horrific—for the full membership of the Democratic Party leadership not to weigh in publicly and on the record.

As the daily massacres and starvation continue in Gaza, the coalition says there is no better moment for all DNC voting members to put themselves on the record.

“Resolution 18 represents the voices of not only young Democrats but all Democrats who believe that Palestinian lives matter too,” said Zayed Kadir, chair of the High School Democrats. “It’s time for the DNC to stand on principle and stop shying away from the conversation—the moment is now.”

As such, in a statement released overnight, the coalition—which includes the American Muslim Democratic Caucus National, Roots Action, Florida Young Democrats, leaders of the High School and College Democrats, and many individual members—is calling for every member of the DNC to:

  • Publicly pledge to support a roll-call vote on Resolution 18 from the floor;
  • Reject voice votes that hide accountability;
  • Stand with Democratic voters, the majority of whom oppose blank-check military aid toward an ongoing genocide.

The coalition began circulating a petition Tuesday night calling on members to tell “the DNC that the humanitarian crisis in Gaza needs urgent attention by sending a letter asking them to bring Resolution 18 back into the conversation and support it tomorrow (Wednesday).”

Aftab Siddiqui, representing the American Muslim Democratic Caucus National, suggested that taking up the resolution by the full DNC at the meeting would begin to show the party is learning from its past mistakes and start forging a new direction.

“Resolution 18 represents exactly the kind of principled politics that wins elections,” Siddiqui said. “While Democrats lost ground in 2024 by wavering on core values, New York City’s mayoral candidate, Zohran Mamdani, proved that moral courage on Gaza builds winning coalitions. The DNC must learn this lesson.”

Ahead of and during Wednesday’s plenary session, the coalition said it will publish “a transparency scorecard” to track which DNC members commit to demanding the roll-call vote. Those who do not, the group said, will be noted as opposing transparency.

Polling has shown that Democratic voters strongly favor the demands outlined in Resolution 18, a fact the coalition says the DNC must acknowledge if it wants to represent the people it claims to represent truly.

Nadia Ahmad, a delegate from Florida, said Democrats “cannot claim to stand for justice and human rights while blocking a resolution that calls for an arms embargo and humanitarian aid to Gaza.”

The fight before the DNC, she added, “is about whether our party has the moral courage to listen to its members and the American people. We are demanding a roll-call vote so that every DNC member is accountable for where they stand in this historic moment.”

Democratic Party Militarism and Foreign Policy