Alejandro “Alex” Gallegos, the south suburban school board member who was the only member of Illinois’ Democratic National Convention delegation to withhold support for Kamala Harris’ nomination, said Thursday he still strongly supports the vice president over Republican nominee Donald Trump.
“Yes, I am the one ‘present’ vote from Illinois,” Gallegos confirmed in an email to the Sun-Times, declining to be interviewed. “Unfortunately I am not able to vocalize the silence of 40K Palestinian souls during an interview.”
He continued: “They want to know why I want the Vice President to lose to Trump. That couldn’t be further from the truth,” Gallegos wrote. “I want Kamala to not only win the election, I want a landslide. The only way I see that happening is if she forces a ceasefire.”
He continued: “Together we can win and save lives.”
Gallegos lives in Crete and was elected last year to the Crete-Monee School District 201-U board. Earlier this year, he was elected as a 2nd Congressional District Democratic delegate for President Joe Biden.
He’s among 52 Democratic uncommitted delegates on the national roll call, many of them taking that stance to protest the Biden-Harris administration’s flow of weapons to Israel in its war against Hamas. He was the only one of 177 Illinois delegates to withhold their support.
Uncommitted delegates are calling on DNC organizers to invite a Palestinian voice to the United Center stage Thursday night and started holding a sit-in outside the arena to publicize their plea.
Terrence Healy, a vice president of the Laborers’ International Union of North America, said at the Illinois delegation breakfast Thursday a “present” vote jeopardized Harris’ chances of defeating Trump.
“One thing I love about the Democratic Party is that, unlike the other side of the aisle, we are always looking to expand our table, we celebrate the diversity, which allows us to grow and achieve success,” Healy said.
However, he added, “I have to admit that while I support the right of that delegate to exercise their conscience, I fail to understand this vote. … We are in a situation where we have to get Kamala Harris elected. We have to stop Trump. We need to show unity.”