Kamala Harris’ campaign is facing deep skepticism from Arab-American voters in Michigan, many of whom are shocked by President Joe Biden’s handling of the war in the Middle East and are still unsure whether to support a candidate who supports his policies.
With early voting already underway, Arab-American voters say they are disappointed that Harris has not broken with Biden over Israel’s warfare. Some see her as complicit in the Israeli bombing of Gaza and Lebanon, which has targeted Hamas and Hezbollah while inflicting terrible damage on civilians.
Harris and former President Donald Trump are neck and neck in Michigan, which has an Arab American population of nearly 400,000, mostly concentrated outside Detroit, according to the Arab American Institute. Those voters turned out for Democrats in 2020 and helped deliver the state to President Joe Biden.
But less than two weeks after Election Day, the escalating war in the Middle East looms large for many Arab Americans, who see Biden and Harris as complicit in Israel’s bombing of Gaza and Lebanon. And they are continually disappointed that Harris did not split with Biden during the war.
“People are really in a dilemma right now. They really don’t know where to go. It’s like someone hit them with a two-by-four, right on the head,” said Osama Siblani, the publisher of an Arab-American newspaper based in Dearborn, Michigan. “So now they’re totally confused. They may vote for Donald Trump just to punish Biden and Harris, just to say, ‘Look what you did.’”
According to a poll released earlier this month by the Arab American Institute, Harris and Trump are nearly tied among Arab American voters nationally, leaving the vice president 18 points behind Biden’s 2020 support level.
According to James Zogby, president of the Institute, which has surveyed Arab Americans since the 1990s, Arab Americans have been democratic for decades. The shift, he said, was purely Harris’ fault.
“What I told the campaign from the beginning: Don’t blame us, blame yourself,” said Zogby, a 31-year veteran of the Democratic National Committee and the current chairman of the Ethnic Council.
In a statement to POLITICO, Nasrina Bargzie, director of the Muslim and Arab American Outreach for Harris campaign, said Harris was “committed to working to earn every vote” and “steadfast in her support of our country’s diverse Muslim community .”
The Vice President, Bargzie, said: “will continue to work to end the war in Gaza in a way where Israel is safe, the hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity. security, freedom and self-determination.” And regarding Israel’s military actions against Hezbollah in Lebanon, Bargzie said Harris is “also working to address the suffering in Lebanon, achieve a diplomatic solution and ensure de-escalation and stability in Lebanon and the region.”
Harris is seen by some voters as tougher on right-wing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and more sympathetic to Palestinians than both Biden and Trump, who imposed a travel ban from several Muslim-majority countries when he was president and whose son-in-law Jared Kushner has called Gaza “valuable” “waterfront property.” Although Trump is an ally of Netanyahu, he has sharply criticized the Israeli prime minister, even in the immediate aftermath of the October 7 attacks.
Last week, Harris said on X that “international humanitarian law must be respected,” criticizing Israel for “UN reports that no food has entered northern Gaza in almost two weeks.” She has been endorsed by a prominent imam in Detroit and a handful of local leaders in Dearborn and Hamtramck, Michigan, which has an all-Muslim city council — although Hamtramck’s mayor has endorsed Trump.
And during a tour of the state earlier this month, Harris huddled with Muslim American and Arab American community leaders in Flint — and extended the meeting to 20 minutes instead of the planned 10. (Zogby, who lives in Washington, said he would be invited to that meeting to speak with the Vice President for “one minute.”)
“Honestly, it wasn’t like I needed to talk to her,” Zogby said. “I want her to speak to the community in a public way to say she understands their frustration and concerns, and that hasn’t happened.”
Democrats are nervous about Harris’ chances in Michigan, a state the party captured in 2022 partly because of her unpopularity with Arab-American voters.
The Arab American PAC, a Dearborn-based PAC involving Siblani and which generally supports Democrats, declined Monday to endorse Harris or Trump, writing: “This year we are faced with the choice of two candidates who will harm our communities here and our families and friends back home.”
So did the Uncommitted National Movement, a Michigan-based pro-Palestinian group that advocated for a no-vote protest against Biden in the Democratic primaries. Last month, Uncommitt released a statement saying it “opposes a Donald Trump presidency” and “does not recommend a third-party vote,” but still said, “Harris’ unwillingness to move to an unconditional gun policy… has made it impossible for us to support her. .”
And Michigan Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib — the only Palestinian-American congresswoman, who represents Dearborn’s district and whose sister, Layla Elabed, is a co-founder of Uncomposed — is also withholding her endorsement. Tlaib and Elabed did not respond to requests for comment.
Siblani, who was in the room when the Arab-American PAC decided against its endorsement, called Trump “a very dangerous man.” But, he said, the war in the Middle East has affected many Michigan residents so deeply that encouraging them to vote for Harris is “a crime that cannot be accepted at this time.”
Siblani said it was likely that many voters in his community who turned out for Biden in 2020 would vote for Green Party candidate Jill Stein, who is eligible to vote in 38 states, including Michigan, or postpone the election altogether — and some, he said, might. even turn to Trump.
“They will hold their noses if they vote for Trump,” he said. “But if they vote for Trump and hold their noses, they’re just doing it to punish Kamala Harris and Joe Biden and the Democrats.”
