Sadiq S BhatWashington, DC — A day after the resolutions committee killed their bid, progressive Democratic National Committee (DNC) members and grassroots allies are showing no signs of backing down.
They are instead pressing for a full floor vote on a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, a US arms embargo on Tel Aviv, and a halt to military support to Israel.
"The DNC membership has the power to stand up and let the public see where Democrats really stand," Allison Minnerly, DNC member from Florida who introduced Resolution 18 before the resolutions committee, said in a statement on Tuesday night after the measure was rejected earlier with a voice vote at the party's late summer gathering in Minneapolis.
"We are demanding a roll-call vote so that every DNC member is accountable for where they stand in this historic moment," she added.
Inside a Minneapolis hotel ballroom on Tuesday, DNC, the governing body of the Democratic Party, wrestled with a question that has shadowed the party for nearly two years: how to talk about Israel, Palestine’s Gaza, and the war that has torn through both politics and conscience.
Ken Martin, DNC Chair, addressed 400+ elected party officials from all 50 US states and seven territories but soon the effort collapsed into something quieter.
"There's divide in our party on this issue," said Martin, his tone even but his words a concession. "We have to find a path forward as a party and we have to stay unified."
Minutes earlier, Martin had stunned the room. He withdrew his own resolution — one carefully worded to avoid alienating either side — and punted the issue to a task force. What might have been a bruising floor fight was shelved, but not solved.
The session had opened with two proposals that exposed the party’s generational rift.
One, drafted by Martin and his allies, called for an immediate ceasefire, an influx of humanitarian aid, the release of hostages, and "a credible, negotiated pathway toward a two-state solution." It echoed the language of a cautious Democratic establishment.
The other, championed by younger DNC members, went further, calling for a suspension of US military backing to Israel, an arms embargo, and formal recognition of Palestine's sovereignty.
The resolution failed.
Martin's milder version passed unanimously and with little discussion. Then came the reversal: the withdrawal and the sense that nothing had really been settled.
Speaking with TRT World, Dr Paul Collins, author and scholar, who teaches at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, noted, "The dueling resolutions in Minneapolis represent a split in the party. Old guard Democrats prefer a more moderate approach, while younger, more progressive Democrats want something bolder."
On Gaza, the Democratic Party sits on a fault line, where principle and power collide.
The Honorable Raymond L. Sullivan Professor of Law at University of California (UC Law), David Levine, told TRT World that the latest experience at DNC is an example of how hard it is for moderates, liberals, and progressives in the US to come to a consensus on the Israel-Palestine issue.
"For many years, if the focus is on one aspect of the complex issues, some participants will point out that other issues are not being addressed simultaneously," he added.
Flashpoint Minneapolis
What unfolded in Minneapolis may have been procedural, even symbolic, but its reverberations stretch far beyond the DNC floor.
In Michigan, Georgia, and Maine — key battlegrounds for the 2026 midterms — candidates are already being asked to explain their stance on the war. Some Democrats are finding that even carefully hedged answers no longer satisfy voters who want moral clarity.
And abroad, as starvation grips Gaza and international allies break with Washington’s line, the political cost of equivocation grows. The question is no longer just what the party stands for, but whether it can say so plainly.
"Another example of this debate playing out now is the reluctance of Democrats to embrace the candidacy of Zohran Mamdani for mayor of New York City….a big reason that he hasn't been widely endorsed for the November elections by other NYC-based politicians like Rep. Hakeem Jeffries and Sen. Chuck Schumer has been Mamdani's clear opposition to policies of the Israeli government," Levine notes.
Meanwhile, Minnerly, the rising Democratic star, says now is the opportunity for Democrats, concerned about ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza, to make it very clear to their elected officials, but also to their voters, "that this (new) resolution would signify that the party would not continue sending military aid and weapons to the region."
In a statement released overnight, the coalition — a mix of Roots Action, Florida Young Democrats, leaders of the High School and College Democrats, and dozens of individual members — urged every DNC member to back a roll-call vote on Resolution 18, to reject the kind of voice votes that blur accountability, and to stand with Democratic voters who, they said, have made clear they oppose blank-check military aid for what they call an ongoing genocide.
For now, Democrats have chosen to buy time. Resolutions are expected to be drafted, debated, redrafted. But the tension is unlikely to ease.
