A seismic shift is brewing in Washington, D.C., as the chorus of Democratic staffers’ dissent grows louder.

On Nov. 14, more than 400 Biden administration employees released a letter distancing themselves from the president’s current stance on Israel. The staffers are pressing the president to demand a ceasefire on Gaza, the release of Israeli and Palestinian hostages and the restoration of services like electricity and humanitarian aid to the Gaza strip.

The public letter follows an action led by over 100 congressional staffers, who participated in a walkout last week also calling for a ceasefire. The participants, who came from 40 to 50 members’ offices, many of them masked to conceal their identities, gathered on the US Capitol steps to hold a vigil, laying out over 10,000 flowers to represent the at time of publication now over 11,000 Palestinians killed since Hamas launched its deadly attack in Israel that left 1,200 Israelis dead on Oct. 7. Other rallies in support of Palestine have been occurring in the DC areas as well.

As the political drama unfolds, part of the growing movement is taking place on social media, where BIPOC government staffers are spilling the tea in public and finding solidarity and community with one another.

Dear White Staffers, which began in 2020 during the COVID pandemic, has emerged as a digital battleground for government staffers to share updates about rising tensions on Capitol Hill.

Originally a space for memes about the experiences of people of color working on Capitol Hill, the Dear White Staffers account now serves as a platform for anonymous testimonials, revealing the harsh realities of mistreatment, discrimination and workplace challenges.

The account, which has more than 111,000 followers on Instagram and 6,000 followers on X, is not only popular, it’s necessary, according to other staffers. Despite the current Congress being the most racially and ethnically diverse in history, only 18% of top staff for new and returning members are people of color, according to data from the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies from 2022.

The Dear White Staffers account runner posts anonymous messages sent by other staffers and interns. They also share news updates about the administration from media outlets like Huffpost. To protect the identity of themselves and other staffers, they remain anonymous through “strong cybersecurity protocols” because they say “the platform belongs to every staffer, not just one person.”

The person behind the Dear White Staffers account says they helped with the recent walkouts and letters by connecting staffers and fielding messages in their DMs.

“I attribute a lot of the organizing power of Dear White Staffers and the people that come along with it as to why there are congressional staff and offices are unionized,” said a young White House staffer of color who has requested to remain anonymous to avoid harassment. “That’s the reason why I think that the amount of public pressure to support a ceasefire is coming from the fact that there is a central location to get information for congressional and administration staffers, especially political appointees.”

The big Democratic split

The Dear White Staffers public posts, along with public letters and demonstrations by staffers, have revealed a stark divide within the Democratic Party regarding the ongoing conflict between Hamas and Israel.

About 46% of Democrats disapprove of how Biden is handling the conflict, according to a survey from Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research conducted from November 2 to November 6. The survey also showed that compared to the 40% of Democrats who disapproved in August, Biden’s support has decreased. In addition, the president’s approval rating has dropped 11 percentage points among Democrats since the Oct. 7 attacks, according to a Gallup tracking poll conducted between Oct. 2 and Oct. 23.

Experts and advocates have pointed to how this may affect Biden’s chances at reelection in 2024. The AP survey results also show that, “nearly two-thirds of Americans (63%) disapprove of how Biden is handling the conflict between Israel and Hamas.”

Those inside Capitol Hill are also beginning to show their dissatisfaction with Biden. On Nov. 13, an internal U.S. State Department memo “urging senior U.S. officials to reassess their policy toward Israel and demand a ceasefire in Gaza,” was released, according to Axios.

Biden isn’t the only Democratic government leader receiving blowback from their current and former White House and congressional staff. Two former Democratic presidential hopefuls also have faced criticisms.

Former staffers of U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s 2020 presidential campaign also expressed their frustration in an open letter date Oct. 19, demanding that the senator take action.

“Through our grief, we implore you to take action. You must demand an immediate ceasefire in Palestine and the return of Israeli hostages, and take concrete steps to end Israeli occupation. A child is killed every 15 minutes in Gaza — if you continue to be silent, you are complicit in this genocide,” the staffers write to Warren.

In response, Warren stated at an event in Bourne, Mass., on Oct. 20 that “I respect my former staffers who are doing exactly what I have always encouraged them to do: Stand up and fight for what they believe in.”

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, known as a hero to progressives, is also facing harsh criticism for his approach towards Israel’s conflict in Gaza, advocating for a humanitarian pause rather than an immediate ceasefire. His stance has disappointed former staffers and supporters, sparking division among progressives who hoped he would continue the anti-war stances he has taken in the past.

Nearly 300 former Sanders presidential campaign staffers wrote him an open letter on Oct. 24, urging him to call for a ceasefire. On Nov. 3, volunteers and his former campaign staffers protested outside of his office. He refused to speak with them and the protestors were arrested.

Sanders told the Washington Post on Nov. 14 that he wishes “there was a simple solution. There isn’t.”

This pressure from staffers is rising, with more than 500 campaign staffers who helped elect President Joe Biden in 2020 presenting a call-to-action letter to work towards a ceasefire Nov. 9.

“As President of the United States, you have significant influence in this perilous moment — you must call for a ceasefire, hostage exchange, and de-escalation, and take concrete steps to address the conditions of occupation, apartheid, and ethnic cleansing at the root of the horrific violence we are witnessing now,” the staffers wrote to President Biden in the Medium post on Nov. 9.

Congressional staffers have been fielding thousands of calls from angry and impassioned constituents in an already toxic and low paid work environment. They say they are frustrated and are expressing dissatisfaction with one another publicly as well as anonymously online via Dear White Staffers.

“It feels like no one is able to have a real conversation about this. And no one knows where the line is. And that’s such like a f***** up and weird place to be when we’re talking about thousands of people’s lives that are like being murdered by US weapons,” said another young staffer who also works with the Biden administration and is choosing to stay anonymous because of fear of harassment.

From the Dear White Staffers account runner’s perspective, the Democratic party is out of touch with the people they are trying to represent.

“It is a shame that members of Congress refuse to acknowledge the calls, letters, and outpouring of support from their constituencies,” they said, who feel there are members who are being influenced by wealthy outside groups. “This is sadly a feature of Washington that illustrates so much of policymaking.”

In the meantime, government staffers are saying that Democratic lawmakers are instructing them to let calls demanding a Gaza ceasefire go to voicemail despite significant public support and staffers’ advocacy.

“I have family and friends that call and text all the time asking why am I still working for someone who obviously doesn’t see me, my family and my community as human beings? How can you support someone who supports a genocide? I can say pretty confidently that it’s an experience that is not just similar to my own. It is very much something that I have to grapple with every day,” an anon staffer in the Biden administration said.

The Dear White Staffers account runner says that while no one day on the Hill is the same, the days always start early.

“You could be answering the phones non-stop and responding to constituents or driving your boss around the district from event to event. The next day, you could be staffing a hearing with business leaders or foreign dignitaries,” they said. “No matter what, the hours are long and the pay never feels enough.”