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John,

I suspect the majority of you reading this email have already voted or have made a plan to vote for Kamala Harris for President and Tim Walz for Vice President. If so, thank you, and please sign up for a GOTV shift! You don’t need to read this email any further.

But I am aware some of you may be considering sitting this election out, or voting for a third-party candidate, because you strongly disagree with Kamala Harris about Gaza. This email is for you. Please read on.

We have many things in common. Like you, I am outraged by the suffering in Gaza: the massive and indiscriminate loss of life, the displacement of millions of people, the deliberate destruction of hospitals, the use of food as a weapon, all of it. Every nation, including Israel, has the right to defend itself, and all hostages must be released now. But no nation, including Israel, has the right to collectively punish another people, including the people of Gaza. But that is what has happened, and like you, I believe American policy has not done enough to stop it.

Now to Kamala Harris.

Kamala Harris has said she’s for a cease fire. She’s said she’s for more humanitarian relief now. She stands for international human-rights laws, and she has the active support of members of Congress who are insisting on the enforcement of international human-rights law. And she has publicly called out Rudy Giuliani’s violent rhetoric about Palestinian children at Trump’s racist Madison Square Garden rally. 

And as she said in her speech in Washington on Tuesday night, she will listen to everyone, including people who disagree with her. I’ve known her for years, so I know from personal experience that this is true.

On the other hand, Donald Trump, who put in place the illegal Muslim ban as president, has said he’ll let Benjamin Netanyahu “finish the job.” Donald Trump, whose own chief of staff says he is a fascist, has promised to deploy the military against constitutional protest and be a dictator on Day One.

So if you care about the people of Gaza — and the right to protest about Gaza — you don’t want Donald Trump in power.

Now I doubt any of you reading this email plan to vote for Donald Trump.

But — and this is critical — if you sit this election out, or if you vote for a third-party candidate who will not win, you are letting Donald Trump get one vote closer to power. Donald Trump in power will increase suffering in Gaza and the world.  

If Kamala Harris is elected, we will have someone in the White House who will use the powers of the presidency to alleviate suffering at home and abroad, not increase it. Just as importantly, we will have someone in the White House with whom we can be in dialogue, not someone who will turn our country against us.

Don’t take only it from me. 

Senator Bernie Sanders supports Kamala Harris even though he strongly disagrees with current Gaza policy, because he believes that Kamala in the White House is the best chance to change that policy.

Georgia State Rep. Ruwa Romman supports Kamala Harris for the same reason.

Nada Elmikashfi of Wisconsin, a Sudanese American and Muslim activist and political organizer who supports the people of Gaza, supports Kamala Harris because she believes that supporting Harris — and not a third-party candidate — is the only way to keep Trump from making everything she cares about worse and harming far more communities than her own.

And former President Jimmy Carter, who brokered the Camp David accords and has worked tirelessly for more than 40 years for a comprehensive peace in the Middle East that includes dignity, opportunity, and self-determination for Palestinians, supports Kamala Harris.

I strongly encourage you to listen to them.

And finally, even as Gaza is first in many of our thoughts, even more is at stake in this election. Racial justice, abortion rights, climate change, and economic fairness: it’s all on the ballot, along with the very soul of this country. Trump’s racist Madison Square Garden rally leaves no more room for doubt about that.

For the sake of all the people that would bear the brunt of Donald Trump’s deliberate cruelty, and for the best chance of building a better future for the people of Gaza, the Middle East, the United States, and the world, I am asking you not to sit this out: I am asking for your vote for Kamala Harris for President and Tim Walz for Vice President.

- Keith