Ilhan Omar has been unwavering in her support of Palestinian and Palestinian American rights since entering Congress in 2019. The fact that she was just reelected says something about where her constituents stand on this issue, John Nichols suggests: “Isn’t it a major political development that Omar—who, because of her close 2022 primary, came into the 2024 election as potentially one of the most vulnerable of the pro-ceasefire incumbents—proved to be unbeatable?”

Omar’s win doesn’t mean that anti-Zionism is the consensus across the Democratic Party, however. As graduate student and writer Layla Saliba writes this week, “Democrats were among those cheering and clapping for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his address to Congress last month.” Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign is an opportunity to rectify Biden’s policies on Gaza, but she “cannot expect to win over Arab, Muslim, and Palestinian voters if her approach to Palestine remains the same.”

But if there’s something the Harris campaign has done right so far, it is leaning into the online language of many youth voters, Ginny Hogan says. The coconut tree and “Midwestern Princess” memes may seem mindless, but the Harris-Walz campaign is wise to capitalize on them. Memes, she writes, “create a permission structure for those who are often cynical or politically disengaged.” They allow a wide range of people to demonstrate and revel in their enthusiasm for the Democratic Party ticket.

-Alana Pockros

Engagement Editor, The Nation

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