Washington, DC – Three days after the assaults on September 11, 2001, the USA Home of Representatives convened to authorise a army response, with laws that may function the authorized foundation for the invasion of Afghanistan and the broader “war on terror”.
The vote was overwhelming: 420 to 1. The only dissenter was Consultant Barbara Lee, a California Democrat.
On Tuesday, Lee — on the age of 77 — will face probably the best electoral check of her profession when California holds a main for its open Senate seat.
The congresswoman is operating in that race on her credentials as an antiwar candidate. This time, nevertheless, her focus is on reaching a ceasefire in Gaza — a place she says distinguishes her from the remainder of the sector.
Lee is in competitors in opposition to greater than 20 different candidates, together with outstanding Democratic representatives like Adam Schiff and Katie Porter. The stakes are excessive: Schiff, Lee and Porter have all opted to not run for reelection within the Home, with a purpose to deal with their Senate prospects.
Which means this 12 months’s Senate main might deal Lee her first electoral defeat in 26 years. However her candidacy shines a light-weight on the vary of Democratic views in direction of Israel’s battle in Gaza — a spectrum that would translate into fractures because the get together seeks unity on the poll field.
For me, doing what’s proper is management.
The lone vote in opposition to the Struggle in Afghanistan then.
California’s solely US Senate candidate calling for a everlasting, unconditional ceasefire now.
Please vote for me, Barbara Lee—the peace and safety candidate—by tomorrow, Tuesday! pic.twitter.com/uFcBCJMdd2
— Barbara Lee (@BarbaraLeeForCA) March 4, 2024
A beacon for progressives
Amar Shergill, the chair emeritus of the California Democratic Occasion Progressive Caucus, is amongst these supporting Lee’s Senate bid.
He advised Al Jazeera that Lee’s stance on Israel’s battle in Gaza was among the many causes he publicly backed her marketing campaign. “Barbara Lee is a voice to end suffering around the world, regardless of the political cost, and she will fight for it,” he mentioned.
Over the previous months, Lee has reiterated her name for a ceasefire in Gaza dozens of instances on her social media accounts, making it a defining aspect of her marketing campaign.
Individuals — and particularly Democrats — have more and more voiced concern in regards to the dire circumstances in Gaza, the place Israel has killed greater than 30,000 Palestinians.
A February ballot from the Related Press and the NORC Heart for Public Affairs Analysis discovered that half of Individuals felt Israel had “gone too far” in its army marketing campaign. That quantity, nevertheless, shot as much as 62 p.c amongst Democrats alone.
However many mainstream members of the Democratic Occasion have lengthy resisted requires a everlasting ceasefire, as an alternative affirming assist for Israel’s army offensive. They embody President Joe Biden, who has solely just lately articulated hopes for a ceasefire to pause — although not definitively finish — hostilities.
Lee’s supporters hope that her stance on the problem will carry her to a shock victory on Tuesday. Public opinion polls present her trailing her Democratic rivals Schiff and Porter, in addition to Republican contender and former baseball participant Steve Garvey.
International coverage isn’t a high precedence on the poll field, however Shergill mentioned voters are more and more drawing parallels between injustices in Palestine and inequality at residence.
“The youth is inspired by her moral clarity. We see immigrant communities who understand that what’s happening in Palestine could happen to their relatives in ancestral homes around the world,” Shergill advised Al Jazeera.
California’s ‘jungle’ main
The Senate race in California — the state with the most important inhabitants within the nation — is scheduled to reach on Tremendous Tuesday, an important date within the US electoral calendar. Extra states maintain primaries on that date than on another.
Including to the scrutiny of that high-profile event is the symbolism behind this explicit Senate race. Lee and the opposite Senate hopefuls goal to fill a seat lengthy held by the late Senator Dianne Feinstein, a key Democrat who died in 2023.
Feinstein held the title of longest-serving feminine senator within the historical past of the US Congress. After her loss of life, California Governor Gavin Newsom appointed Laphonza Butler to serve the remainder of her time period.
However Butler has declined to run within the 2024 election, leaving the Senate race with out an incumbent. An open Senate seat in California, a Democratic stronghold, is a rarity. Whoever wins will spend a six-year time period in Congress.
Most states have partisan primaries, the place candidates from completely different events compete on separate slates to assert their get together’s nomination for the final election.
However California holds what is called a “jungle primary”: Candidates, no matter political get together, compete collectively within the first spherical of voting and the highest two vote-getters face off within the normal elections.
So a Democrat like Lee not solely has to compete in opposition to members of her personal get together however Republicans and independents as nicely.
The candidates
Garvey, the Republican baseball star, has led a dark-horse marketing campaign that has shocked political observers. A number of polls present him in a tie with — or surpassing — Porter for second place.
However even when Garvey makes it to the final elections, Democrats are extensively anticipated to retain the Senate seat in November.
Schiff, an ally of former Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi, is at present main the race. Thought of a favorite of the get together institution, Schiff developed a nationwide profile after he led an impeachment inquiry into then-President Donald Trump in 2019.
Porter, in the meantime, is a left-wing lawmaker who rose to prominence along with her client advocacy and criticism of main firms.
On home points, Lee, Schiff and Porter share comparable views, albeit with completely different approaches. Even Schiff — who is taken into account the centrist within the race — helps progressive priorities like common healthcare and the Inexperienced New Deal local weather plan.
However the battle on Gaza is a vital level of divergence. Schiff, the previous chair of the Home Intelligence Committee, is a staunch defender of Israel. Final month, he voted with the Republican majority in favour of a $17.6bn help invoice for Israel. Most Democrats had opposed the measure, which finally failed, as a result of it didn’t embody help for Ukraine.
Porter, who has been in Congress since 2019, is just not recognized for her international coverage positions however can also be a vocal supporter of Israel. In December, she known as for a ceasefire with a caveat: that Hamas be eliminated “from operational control of Gaza”.
In the identical assertion, Porter falsely blamed Hamas, not Israel’s blockade, for the “shortages of food, clean water, fuel and medicine” over time in Gaza.
“I believe we need a lasting ceasefire,” she just lately advised the Los Angeles Occasions. “This is a conflict between Israel and Hamas, and the job of the United States is to bring Israel and Hamas into conversation and to find out what the preconditions are, like the release of hostages and different leadership in Gaza.”
In distinction, Lee has been constantly calling for an instantaneous and unconditional ceasefire.
“The only way that we’re going to see peace and security and justice for the Israelis and the Palestinian people is through a political and diplomatic solution,” Lee mentioned in November 2023.
The congresswoman has additionally been endorsed by outstanding progressives who’re supportive of Palestinian rights, together with Congress members Cori Bush, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley and Mark Pocan.
Nonetheless, she has struggled to maintain up with the fundraising of Schiff and Porter, who get pleasure from extra institutional assist. Filings made with the Federal Election Fee present that Schiff, for example, had practically $34.9m in “cash on hand” for his marketing campaign in January.
Lee’s possibilities
So does Lee have an opportunity within the Tremendous Tuesday race?
Yassar Dahbour, the chair of the Palestine American League, says he’s “hopeful” however sensible about her possibilities.
“She stood out there, and she’s resonating with the voters, but there are other factors in effect,” Dahbour advised Al Jazeera. “And unfortunately, in American politics, money has quite an effect on the result and outcome of elections.”
Dahbour lauded Lee’s advocacy for a everlasting ceasefire in Gaza, calling her a voice for justice, however mentioned it stays to be seen how a lot her place will sway voters past the progressive base.
For his half, Shergill dismissed polls that present Lee behind the three different main candidates, saying that early indicators level to a low turnout on Tuesday.
“In a low turnout election, the kind of energised folks who want to see Barbara Lee elected could make the difference,” he mentioned.