Amid these expressions of frustration, Democratic Party campaigners recognise the urgency of retaining Muslim support.
Published November 4, 2024
WASHINGTON: Disenchantment with both major US political parties is pushing many first-time Muslim voters in Northern Virginia toward abstention or even third-party support, raising concerns for Democrats who traditionally rely on this constituency.
In conversations with visiting Pakistani journalists at a lively shopping plaza in the region, some young Muslim voters cited foreign policy decisions, environmental issues, and unmet domestic needs as reasons for their reluctance to vote for either major party.
The plaza, known for its diverse array of halal restaurants, grocery stores, and pizza shops, has become a central meeting place for Muslims from Virginia, Maryland, and Washington D.C.
Store owners are preparing for election day by setting up a large screen in one of the restaurants to broadcast results, and offering free tea and samosas to patrons to foster a sense of community.
They recently hosted an event inviting Pakistani journalists to engage with their mostly Muslim clientele to encourage discussions among young voters. In attendance was a group of young first-time voters, aged 18 to 22, who shared insights into the shifting political views of their generation.
WASHINGTON: Disenchantment with both major US political parties is pushing many first-time Muslim voters in Northern Virginia toward abstention or even third-party support, raising concerns for Democrats who traditionally rely on this constituency.
In conversations with visiting Pakistani journalists at a lively shopping plaza in the region, some young Muslim voters cited foreign policy decisions, environmental issues, and unmet domestic needs as reasons for their reluctance to vote for either major party.
The plaza, known for its diverse array of halal restaurants, grocery stores, and pizza shops, has become a central meeting place for Muslims from Virginia, Maryland, and Washington D.C.
Store owners are preparing for election day by setting up a large screen in one of the restaurants to broadcast results, and offering free tea and samosas to patrons to foster a sense of community.
They recently hosted an event inviting Pakistani journalists to engage with their mostly Muslim clientele to encourage discussions among young voters. In attendance was a group of young first-time voters, aged 18 to 22, who shared insights into the shifting political views of their generation.
FIRST-time voters (L to R) Ms Khan, Ramiz and Aariz indicated that they were not inclined to vote for either of the two main parties in the presidential elections.—Photos by the writer
Ms Khan, a young voter who provided only her last name, shared that her family’s long-standing support for the Democrats is now uncertain. While her parents voted for the party in the previous election, they, like Ms Khan, are reconsidering this time.
“The government didn’t have enough funds to help victims of this year’s cyclone in the southern US, yet they’re spending billions on wars in the Middle East and Ukraine,” she said, expressing disappointment in the Democrats’ current priorities.
Another first-time voter, Aariz, voiced support for the Green Party, citing environmental concerns and frustration over foreign policy as key issues. “I won’t vote for Donald Trump because he is bad for the environment,” he said, adding that he also felt hesitant about voting for Kamala Harris due to her stance on Gaza.
Ramiz, another new voter, echoed these sentiments. While acknowledging Israel as a US ally, he questioned the Biden administration’s lack of action on the Gaza conflict.
“What prevented the administration from enforcing a ceasefire in Gaza?” he asked.
Despite this wave of dissatisfaction, many of the younger voters, besides Ms Khan’s father, noted that American Muslims have historically leaned towards Democrats.
They attributed this to the party’s generally progressive stance on immigration and religious freedoms.
Older voters referenced a recent incident where Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud publicly rejected an invitation to meet former president Donald Trump during his campaign stop.
Dearborn, Michigan — home to a large Arab-American population — has seen considerable political mobilisation within its Muslim communities, and Hammoud’s decision, they noted, was widely seen as a rebuke of Trump’s “Muslim ban” during his first term.
This executive order, which imposed travel restrictions on individuals from several Muslim-majority countries, including Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen, remains a sore point for many Muslim voters.
‘Split-vote’
Amid these expressions of frustration, Democratic Party campaigners recognise the urgency of retaining Muslim support.
“That’s almost like voting for Trump,” argued David Byrne, a Democratic campaigner, when one first-time Muslim voter said he planned to support the Green Party.
“It won’t bring the Green Party to power and will weaken Harris’s support base,” Mr Byrne added, stressing the potential implications of a split vote in this election.
Similar Democratic teams have been canvassing nearby areas in Washington D.C., and Virginia, hoping to connect with young voters, both Muslims and Christians, especially those voting for the first time.
Democrats’ strategists have emphasised the critical role that young Muslim voters could play in tight races, particularly in swing states.
Despite the outreach efforts, some Republican-leaning Muslims remain resolute. Junaid Bashir, a PTI supporter who plans to vote for Mr Trump, commented that despite persistent Democratic outreach, many new voters, particularly Muslims, were hesitant to back Harris.
Political analyst Uzair Younus described these sentiments as “anecdotal”, pointing to broader data trends showing strong support for Harris among young voters. “While anecdotal evidence may suggest some erosion of support within sub-groups, data shows that young people are expected to come out in support of Kamala Harris,” he explained.
He cited a survey released by the Harvard Institute of Politics (IOP) last week to back his point. The survey, which has tracked voter attitudes in the 18-29 age group since 2008, revealed a significant lead for Harris over Trump among young voters, with Harris ahead by 17 points (49pc to 32pc).
This contrast between individual anecdotes and broader polling trends highlights the challenges that campaign strategists face as they work to address the complex and diverse concerns of Muslim voters in the region.
Published in Dawn, November 4th, 2024
Ms Khan, a young voter who provided only her last name, shared that her family’s long-standing support for the Democrats is now uncertain. While her parents voted for the party in the previous election, they, like Ms Khan, are reconsidering this time.
“The government didn’t have enough funds to help victims of this year’s cyclone in the southern US, yet they’re spending billions on wars in the Middle East and Ukraine,” she said, expressing disappointment in the Democrats’ current priorities.
Another first-time voter, Aariz, voiced support for the Green Party, citing environmental concerns and frustration over foreign policy as key issues. “I won’t vote for Donald Trump because he is bad for the environment,” he said, adding that he also felt hesitant about voting for Kamala Harris due to her stance on Gaza.
Ramiz, another new voter, echoed these sentiments. While acknowledging Israel as a US ally, he questioned the Biden administration’s lack of action on the Gaza conflict.
“What prevented the administration from enforcing a ceasefire in Gaza?” he asked.
Despite this wave of dissatisfaction, many of the younger voters, besides Ms Khan’s father, noted that American Muslims have historically leaned towards Democrats.
They attributed this to the party’s generally progressive stance on immigration and religious freedoms.
Older voters referenced a recent incident where Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud publicly rejected an invitation to meet former president Donald Trump during his campaign stop.
Dearborn, Michigan — home to a large Arab-American population — has seen considerable political mobilisation within its Muslim communities, and Hammoud’s decision, they noted, was widely seen as a rebuke of Trump’s “Muslim ban” during his first term.
This executive order, which imposed travel restrictions on individuals from several Muslim-majority countries, including Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen, remains a sore point for many Muslim voters.
‘Split-vote’
Amid these expressions of frustration, Democratic Party campaigners recognise the urgency of retaining Muslim support.
“That’s almost like voting for Trump,” argued David Byrne, a Democratic campaigner, when one first-time Muslim voter said he planned to support the Green Party.
“It won’t bring the Green Party to power and will weaken Harris’s support base,” Mr Byrne added, stressing the potential implications of a split vote in this election.
Similar Democratic teams have been canvassing nearby areas in Washington D.C., and Virginia, hoping to connect with young voters, both Muslims and Christians, especially those voting for the first time.
Democrats’ strategists have emphasised the critical role that young Muslim voters could play in tight races, particularly in swing states.
Despite the outreach efforts, some Republican-leaning Muslims remain resolute. Junaid Bashir, a PTI supporter who plans to vote for Mr Trump, commented that despite persistent Democratic outreach, many new voters, particularly Muslims, were hesitant to back Harris.
Political analyst Uzair Younus described these sentiments as “anecdotal”, pointing to broader data trends showing strong support for Harris among young voters. “While anecdotal evidence may suggest some erosion of support within sub-groups, data shows that young people are expected to come out in support of Kamala Harris,” he explained.
He cited a survey released by the Harvard Institute of Politics (IOP) last week to back his point. The survey, which has tracked voter attitudes in the 18-29 age group since 2008, revealed a significant lead for Harris over Trump among young voters, with Harris ahead by 17 points (49pc to 32pc).
This contrast between individual anecdotes and broader polling trends highlights the challenges that campaign strategists face as they work to address the complex and diverse concerns of Muslim voters in the region.
Published in Dawn, November 4th, 2024
Opinion
Muslim Americans face a tough choice, but we have to refuse to empower Trump
(RNS) — While a protest vote may feel good, electing Trump means shutting Muslims out for four years.
This combination of file photos shows Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, left, speaking at a campaign rally in Kalamazoo, Michigan, on Oct. 26, 2024, and former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, right, speaking during a campaign rally on Oct. 22, 2024, in Greensboro, North Carolina. (AP Photo, File)
Afsheen Shamsi
November 1, 2024
RNS
(RNS) — Determined after the horrors of the first Trump presidency not to see another, in 2020 I gathered a diverse team of Muslim Americans from around New Jersey to form NJ Muslims for Biden. In the 2020 election cycle, we made more than 136,000 calls in partnership with the Muslim political organizing group Emgage Action, helping to turn out more than 50,000 Muslim voters in Pennsylvania. We were part of a broad coalition that was the margin of victory in that election.
I never imagined then that four years later our Muslim American community would be confronted with such a difficult choice. Many Muslims view Harris as simply an extension of Biden, a president who has seemingly heartlessly funded a war and with American bombs enabled catastrophic harm to our Palestinian and Lebanese siblings and children.
A longtime progressive Muslim American Democrat, I understand this anti-Biden sentiment. Like my community, I feel abandoned and betrayed by a party that has stood silently by as civilian men, women and children have been targeted en masse in Palestine and Lebanon. Elected Democrats have also supported the quashing of our free speech rights. Until recently, our elected leaders in their rhetoric, including Biden, have dehumanized Palestinians and Muslims as terrorists.
As a result, many in our community are voting for Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate, in an attempt to register their protest and to break the two-party system in American politics that reduces political debate and ignores nuanced views. Yet the data is clear that a vote for Stein or any third party is a vote for Trump.
RELATED: In Philadelphia, a Muslim hub, presidential election feels to many like no choice at all
Faced with this difficult choice at the polls, I find myself unable to empower Trump and all he stands for.
I believe we are more likely to achieve more for our Palestinian and Lebanese loved ones, including an end to the war on Palestine, with Harris, who has called for a cease-fire. Trump is on record stating that he will finish the job in Palestine, and so I can’t empower Trump with my vote.
Read the American Civil Liberties Union’s Trump Memos, a document that details how our Muslim and advocacy institutions may not survive a second Trump presidency, and what the organization is planning to do to defuse Trump’s bias. Consider that Trump is on track to cause irreparable harm to our democracy. As an American citizen who cares deeply about our democracy, I can’t trust him with my vote.
In solidarity with our Black Muslim siblings, who are raising the alarm about the harm Trump’s racist rhetoric and policies will do to their community, I can’t empower him with my vote.
Let’s also not forget the horrors Trump unleashed on immigrant families and children at our borders and see that Trump can’t be trusted with anyone’s vote.
On a whole host of domestic issues — the economy, education, health care, student loan forgiveness and more — Harris will center diversity, inclusion and equity in her policymaking. (Trump wants to get rid of DEI programs across the country.) Harris’ diverse administration has shown that it will include Muslim Americans.
While a protest vote may feel good, electing Trump means shutting Muslims out for four years. Let us not forget that the diverse people in an administration inform policy decisions that are made. Even when Trump sends senior officials to meet with Muslim leaders, they are very open about refusing to make any policy commitments to our community. Why should we empower Trump with our vote?
Wiser people than I have said that when someone shows you who they are, believe them. Trump is sharing his plans, and I believe him.
Several years ago, after visiting the Holocaust Museum in Washington, I found stories there of Muslims who had helped Jewish community members in Germany avoid the Holocaust. I wondered, if I were in Germany at that time, would I have been able to help the Jewish community or because as a single parent of a child with disabilities who is completely dependent on me would I have felt I could not take this risk? As I left the museum, I asked myself what I would have done if I had been in that situation. It’s easy for all of us to believe we would have done the right thing.
I have since then prayed to God that the right thing to do always be clearly visible and also the easy thing to do because I don’t want to be confronted with such choices and I hope I never am.
As someone who tries to be guided by what is just and right, it is not easy to vote for Harris, which may not secure us the justice that we seek. Securing a just solution to this conflict over land could take generations, given the power differential in our political reality that we face as advocates of vulnerable Palestinians and Lebanese.
RELATED: Prominent Muslim American advocacy organization endorses Harris
But as a Muslim woman whose faith runs deep, I’m sure that empowering Trump is certain to mean continued war and harm, to our Palestinian and Lebanese siblings and children, and to our nation’s own most vulnerable and marginalized communities. Empowering Trump’s bigoted rhetoric and policies runs counter to everything Islam teaches us about justice, compassion and care for community.
This is why I plan to vote for Harris on Election Day. I hope you will join me with your vote in preventing greater injustices here at home and abroad.
(Afsheen A. Shamsi is a national board member for Emgage Action, a national Muslim-American advocacy group that supports policies that strengthen pluralistic democracy and protect human rights. The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of Religion News Service.)
In the ‘capital of Arab America’, voters plan to punish Harris for Gaza, Lebanon wars
On The Ground
Dearborn, Michigan, with its large Arab American population, was once considered a reliably Democratic city. But anger over the current administration's handling of Israel's wars in Gaza and Lebanon have led many locals to spurn Kamala Harris in the ballots. In a battleground state in a tight presidential race, the disenchantment could be decisive.
Issued on: 03/11/2024 -
By: Leela JACINTO
‘Rapid response’ moments every single day
At a popular kebab eatery further along Michigan Avenue, Layla Elabed is dismayed by the Trump lovefest in a city popularly known as the “capital of Arab America”.
“Do people forget how bad it was under the Trump presidency,” wondered the 35-year-old community organiser. “We were coordinating emergency responses to all the policies coming out of Donald Trump's presidency. I was going from meetings at the airport to rallies against the Muslim ban, to joining Black Lives Matter protests, to helping families that were under the threat of deportation. It was a rapid response moment every single day.”
Party leaders ‘not aligned with their base’
Elabed knows a thing or two about Democratic betrayal. As a co-founder of the Uncommitted National Movement, she helped rally Michigan Democrats to vote 'uncommitted' in the February primaries. The campaign was a bid to force the Biden administration to impose an arms embargo on Israel until a Gaza ceasefire deal was reached.
The movement set out to get 10,000 votes, the number of votes that won Trump the state of Michigan in 2016. The result far exceeded the goal, with 100,000 Michigan residents voting uncommitted. The success sparked similar campaigns in other states, netting more than 700,000 votes and 37 delegates at the August Democratic National Convention.
But failure came just as quickly, when the Harris campaign refused to allow a Palestinian American to address the convention as the war raged in Gaza, killing tens of thousands of trapped civilians and displacing over a million.
For Elabed, a Palestinian American whose parents grew up in the West Bank, it was a bitter pill to swallow. “As a lifelong Democrat, I feel really betrayed by my own party. I think what we're seeing right now is the leaders of this party are actually not aligned with their base,” she said.
From funerals to the dilemmas of strategic voting
The difference in enthusiasm levels between Dearborn’s Republican and Democratic supporters is stark in the 2024 presidential race.
Elabed says she will skip the presidential section on her ballot paper, but she plans to vote Democrat in the other races, including the US Senate, House, state legislative and state supreme court races. This includes a vote for her elder sister, Rashida Tlaib, who is running for re-election to the US House to represent Michigan’s 12th Congressional district, which includes Dearborn.
As a Trump opponent, Elabed does not want to vote for a third party, such as the Green’s Jill Stein, fearing it could help inadvertently deliver a Trump presidency under the country's controversial electoral college system.
It was a difficult decision, she admitted. “We're literally being pulled away from funerals and taken to the ballot box and being told, now vote strategically,” she sighed.
Lebanon war hits home
Abed Hammoud’s ballot paper sat on his dining table for weeks before he finally got down to ticking his absentee ballot and sticking it in the envelope.
“It took me a while to vote,” he confessed. “I've had the ballot for about a month now. It's not an easy decision.”
An attorney and former prosecutor, Hammoud, 58, has been active in Michigan politics for decades and is the founder of the Arab American Political Action Committee (AAPAC), a group which seeks to address critical issues affecting the Arab American community.
Under normal circumstances, a vote for Harris should have been a no-brainer for Hammoud. “I personally would have liked to support her if I could. She's a former prosecutor like me. We have a lot of things in common. My Democratic background, my natural tendency would be to support her,” he said.
But the conflict in the Middle East has made that impossible. Born and raised in southern Lebanon, Hammoud is painfully familiar with the horrors of an Israeli invasion. “I lived through several wars and invasions. I lived under the occupation,” he said, referring to the 18-year Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon from 1982 to 2000.
Hammoud and his wife have family in southern Lebanon, including elderly parents, who are now scattered across the country and region after fleeing the Israeli bombardments. “It’s hitting home, literally home, because this morning, they just bombed my village again,” he revealed.
Trump ‘works’ for Arab American votes
Last month, AAPAC released a statement declaring that the lobby group was not endorsing Trump or Harris. “We simply cannot give our votes to either Democrat Kamala Harris or Republican Donald Trump, who blindly support the criminal Israeli government led by far-right extremists,” said the statement.
Hammoud’s position is allied with that of the group he founded. “I want to do everything I can to punish this administration in this election, knowing that I'll be kind of punishing myself if Trump becomes president,” he said with a rueful smile.
He’s keenly aware of the consequences of his vote in a state that could determine the next president of the world’s superpower. But the responsibility this time, he maintains, lies with the Democratic candidate.
“I have no respect for Donald Trump, but you should see how much he's courting this community,” he said. "He knows we have votes. He wants them. I don't trust a word he says. I'm not saying he's going to be good for us. I'm not voting for him. I'm not calling for people to vote for him. But I'm watching both campaigns. He's saying, 'I want these votes and I’m working for them'.”
As Trump headed for a meeting with Dearborn community members at The Great Commoner restaurant, Elabed echoed the opinion. “I do not have the burden of responsibility to convince my community members who to vote for. It’s the responsibility of the candidate,” she explained. “And we've been trying to tell leaders of the Democratic Party that in order to win over key votes here in Michigan, you need to change your policy that unconditionally supports Israel. But they have not listened.”
On The Ground
Dearborn, Michigan, with its large Arab American population, was once considered a reliably Democratic city. But anger over the current administration's handling of Israel's wars in Gaza and Lebanon have led many locals to spurn Kamala Harris in the ballots. In a battleground state in a tight presidential race, the disenchantment could be decisive.
Issued on: 03/11/2024 -
By: Leela JACINTO
A Trump supporter displays his message in Dearborn, Michigan, on November 1, 2024. © Tahar Hani, FRANCE 24
Shortly after 1pm on Friday, a burly, bearded young man joined the handful of people gathered outside The Great Commoner restaurant in Dearborn, Michigan.
His message, from head-to-toe, was consistent. Wearing a “Trump 2024” cap and T-shirt, he posed for photographs with a banner reiterating his support for Republican candidate Donald Trump.
“My name is Hassan. I’m from Bint Jbeil,” he said, referring to a town in southern Lebanon nearly 6,000 miles away from Dearborn.
The message was loud, clear – and menacingly terse. “Trump 2024! I don’t have no more comment, that’s all I’m going to say. Trump 2024! And I’m Muslim so no one can tell me nothing,” he proclaimed.
When asked why Trump had snagged his vote, the Dearborn resident from Bint Jbeil circled back to the loop. “Because I support Trump. That’s all I’m going to say,” he repeated. “I don’t talk politics. I just support Trump.”
The buzz outside The Great Commoner was generated by the sudden announcement that Trump had made a last-minute campaign schedule change. The Republican presidential hopeful was making a pit stop in Dearborn, the nation’s largest Arab-majority city, as the statistical dead heat between Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris has turned the swing state of Michigan into an electoral battleground.
With 54% of Dearborn’s 110,000 population identifying as having Middle Eastern or North African ancestry in the 2020 census, the Arab American vote is a critical demographic in must-win Michigan. In the 2016 race, Hillary Clinton lost Michigan to Trump by only 10,000 votes. Four years later, President Joe Biden won it back by 150,000 votes.
While the state’s rural areas and affluent white-majority suburbs tend to vote Republican, Dearborn was once considered a reliably Democratic city. But the brutal conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon have shattered Dearborn’s “blue wall” of Democratic support, with many enraged over the Biden-Harris administration’s handling of the Middle East crisis.
Ahead of the final weekend before Election Day, November 5, Trump made a brief appearance at The Grand Commoner, an iconic eatery owned by a Lebanese American family, where he met a small gathering of Arab American invitees.
“You’re going to have peace in the Middle East, but not with the clowns that you have running the US right now,” Trump told the gathering at the restaurant.
Shortly after 1pm on Friday, a burly, bearded young man joined the handful of people gathered outside The Great Commoner restaurant in Dearborn, Michigan.
His message, from head-to-toe, was consistent. Wearing a “Trump 2024” cap and T-shirt, he posed for photographs with a banner reiterating his support for Republican candidate Donald Trump.
“My name is Hassan. I’m from Bint Jbeil,” he said, referring to a town in southern Lebanon nearly 6,000 miles away from Dearborn.
The message was loud, clear – and menacingly terse. “Trump 2024! I don’t have no more comment, that’s all I’m going to say. Trump 2024! And I’m Muslim so no one can tell me nothing,” he proclaimed.
When asked why Trump had snagged his vote, the Dearborn resident from Bint Jbeil circled back to the loop. “Because I support Trump. That’s all I’m going to say,” he repeated. “I don’t talk politics. I just support Trump.”
The buzz outside The Great Commoner was generated by the sudden announcement that Trump had made a last-minute campaign schedule change. The Republican presidential hopeful was making a pit stop in Dearborn, the nation’s largest Arab-majority city, as the statistical dead heat between Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris has turned the swing state of Michigan into an electoral battleground.
With 54% of Dearborn’s 110,000 population identifying as having Middle Eastern or North African ancestry in the 2020 census, the Arab American vote is a critical demographic in must-win Michigan. In the 2016 race, Hillary Clinton lost Michigan to Trump by only 10,000 votes. Four years later, President Joe Biden won it back by 150,000 votes.
While the state’s rural areas and affluent white-majority suburbs tend to vote Republican, Dearborn was once considered a reliably Democratic city. But the brutal conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon have shattered Dearborn’s “blue wall” of Democratic support, with many enraged over the Biden-Harris administration’s handling of the Middle East crisis.
Ahead of the final weekend before Election Day, November 5, Trump made a brief appearance at The Grand Commoner, an iconic eatery owned by a Lebanese American family, where he met a small gathering of Arab American invitees.
“You’re going to have peace in the Middle East, but not with the clowns that you have running the US right now,” Trump told the gathering at the restaurant.
Donald Trump makes a campaign stop at the Great Commoner restaurant in Dearborn, Michigan, November 1, 2024. © Brian Snyder, Reuters
Trump has a fraught relationship with Arab and Muslim voters. Shortly after his January 2017 inauguration, he signed an executive order, dubbed the “Muslim ban”, that barred US entry to citizens of several Muslim-majority countries. Trump has voiced support for a similar travel ban if he is reelected this year.
But in his new avatar as Mideast peacemaker, Trump appears to have gained traction in some corners of this lively US Midwestern city crammed with Middle Eastern restaurants, bakeries and takeaway joints offering everything from shorbas and hummus-laced steaks to juicy baklavas and Egyptian funnel cakes.
A few blocks down the road from The Great Commoner on Michigan Avenue, a local Yemeni restaurant has its windows plastered with posters proclaiming, “For Peace Vote Trump” in English and Arabic.
Trump has a fraught relationship with Arab and Muslim voters. Shortly after his January 2017 inauguration, he signed an executive order, dubbed the “Muslim ban”, that barred US entry to citizens of several Muslim-majority countries. Trump has voiced support for a similar travel ban if he is reelected this year.
But in his new avatar as Mideast peacemaker, Trump appears to have gained traction in some corners of this lively US Midwestern city crammed with Middle Eastern restaurants, bakeries and takeaway joints offering everything from shorbas and hummus-laced steaks to juicy baklavas and Egyptian funnel cakes.
A few blocks down the road from The Great Commoner on Michigan Avenue, a local Yemeni restaurant has its windows plastered with posters proclaiming, “For Peace Vote Trump” in English and Arabic.
Trump campaign posters on a restaurant window in Dearborn, Michigan, on November 1, 2024. © Leela Jacinto, FRANCE 24
‘Rapid response’ moments every single day
At a popular kebab eatery further along Michigan Avenue, Layla Elabed is dismayed by the Trump lovefest in a city popularly known as the “capital of Arab America”.
“Do people forget how bad it was under the Trump presidency,” wondered the 35-year-old community organiser. “We were coordinating emergency responses to all the policies coming out of Donald Trump's presidency. I was going from meetings at the airport to rallies against the Muslim ban, to joining Black Lives Matter protests, to helping families that were under the threat of deportation. It was a rapid response moment every single day.”
Layla Elabed, co-founder of the Uncommitted National Movement, is no fan of Donald Trump, but says she cannot vote for Kamala Harris. © Tahar Hani, FRANCE 24
Elabed may be dismayed, but she’s not surprised. And she’s pretty sure of who to blame.
“It’s the fault of the Democrats that they left this window open for Trump to come into a community that is grieving, that is frustrated, that is feeling betrayed. I really fault Vice President Harris's campaign and Democrats who allowed this to happen,” she said mournfully.
Elabed may be dismayed, but she’s not surprised. And she’s pretty sure of who to blame.
“It’s the fault of the Democrats that they left this window open for Trump to come into a community that is grieving, that is frustrated, that is feeling betrayed. I really fault Vice President Harris's campaign and Democrats who allowed this to happen,” she said mournfully.
Party leaders ‘not aligned with their base’
Elabed knows a thing or two about Democratic betrayal. As a co-founder of the Uncommitted National Movement, she helped rally Michigan Democrats to vote 'uncommitted' in the February primaries. The campaign was a bid to force the Biden administration to impose an arms embargo on Israel until a Gaza ceasefire deal was reached.
The movement set out to get 10,000 votes, the number of votes that won Trump the state of Michigan in 2016. The result far exceeded the goal, with 100,000 Michigan residents voting uncommitted. The success sparked similar campaigns in other states, netting more than 700,000 votes and 37 delegates at the August Democratic National Convention.
But failure came just as quickly, when the Harris campaign refused to allow a Palestinian American to address the convention as the war raged in Gaza, killing tens of thousands of trapped civilians and displacing over a million.
For Elabed, a Palestinian American whose parents grew up in the West Bank, it was a bitter pill to swallow. “As a lifelong Democrat, I feel really betrayed by my own party. I think what we're seeing right now is the leaders of this party are actually not aligned with their base,” she said.
From funerals to the dilemmas of strategic voting
The difference in enthusiasm levels between Dearborn’s Republican and Democratic supporters is stark in the 2024 presidential race.
Elabed says she will skip the presidential section on her ballot paper, but she plans to vote Democrat in the other races, including the US Senate, House, state legislative and state supreme court races. This includes a vote for her elder sister, Rashida Tlaib, who is running for re-election to the US House to represent Michigan’s 12th Congressional district, which includes Dearborn.
As a Trump opponent, Elabed does not want to vote for a third party, such as the Green’s Jill Stein, fearing it could help inadvertently deliver a Trump presidency under the country's controversial electoral college system.
It was a difficult decision, she admitted. “We're literally being pulled away from funerals and taken to the ballot box and being told, now vote strategically,” she sighed.
Lebanon war hits home
Abed Hammoud’s ballot paper sat on his dining table for weeks before he finally got down to ticking his absentee ballot and sticking it in the envelope.
“It took me a while to vote,” he confessed. “I've had the ballot for about a month now. It's not an easy decision.”
An attorney and former prosecutor, Hammoud, 58, has been active in Michigan politics for decades and is the founder of the Arab American Political Action Committee (AAPAC), a group which seeks to address critical issues affecting the Arab American community.
Under normal circumstances, a vote for Harris should have been a no-brainer for Hammoud. “I personally would have liked to support her if I could. She's a former prosecutor like me. We have a lot of things in common. My Democratic background, my natural tendency would be to support her,” he said.
But the conflict in the Middle East has made that impossible. Born and raised in southern Lebanon, Hammoud is painfully familiar with the horrors of an Israeli invasion. “I lived through several wars and invasions. I lived under the occupation,” he said, referring to the 18-year Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon from 1982 to 2000.
Hammoud and his wife have family in southern Lebanon, including elderly parents, who are now scattered across the country and region after fleeing the Israeli bombardments. “It’s hitting home, literally home, because this morning, they just bombed my village again,” he revealed.
Trump ‘works’ for Arab American votes
Last month, AAPAC released a statement declaring that the lobby group was not endorsing Trump or Harris. “We simply cannot give our votes to either Democrat Kamala Harris or Republican Donald Trump, who blindly support the criminal Israeli government led by far-right extremists,” said the statement.
Hammoud’s position is allied with that of the group he founded. “I want to do everything I can to punish this administration in this election, knowing that I'll be kind of punishing myself if Trump becomes president,” he said with a rueful smile.
He’s keenly aware of the consequences of his vote in a state that could determine the next president of the world’s superpower. But the responsibility this time, he maintains, lies with the Democratic candidate.
“I have no respect for Donald Trump, but you should see how much he's courting this community,” he said. "He knows we have votes. He wants them. I don't trust a word he says. I'm not saying he's going to be good for us. I'm not voting for him. I'm not calling for people to vote for him. But I'm watching both campaigns. He's saying, 'I want these votes and I’m working for them'.”
As Trump headed for a meeting with Dearborn community members at The Great Commoner restaurant, Elabed echoed the opinion. “I do not have the burden of responsibility to convince my community members who to vote for. It’s the responsibility of the candidate,” she explained. “And we've been trying to tell leaders of the Democratic Party that in order to win over key votes here in Michigan, you need to change your policy that unconditionally supports Israel. But they have not listened.”
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