Kamala Harris will have to win back Muslim voters in Michigan after Gaza conflict fallout

Dearborn, key Arab-American town with 110,000 residents, could influence the state's outcome in presidential election

In key US swing state Michigan, Democratic voters of Arab and Middle Eastern heritage say US presidential candidate Kamala Harris is going to have to win them back after they were alienated by President Joe Biden’s handling of Israel’s military offensive in Gaza.

The town of Dearborn, home to 110,000 people and a cultural hub for Arab Americans, could play a decisive role in deciding the fate of the battleground state in November’s presidential election.

Members of the community interviewed by AFP said they were willing to hear what the vice president had to say and weigh their options — a marked change from the outright hostility towards Biden. “We are in listening mode right now,” said Osama Siblani, publisher of The Arab American News.

Accepting the Democratic presidential nomination at the party’s convention on Thursday, Harris pledged to get a Gaza ceasefire “done” and ensure Palestinians realize their right to “dignity, security, freedom, and self-determination.”

But there was outrage among pro-Palestinian delegates that their request for a speaker spot at the convention was rejected. The group Muslim Women for Harris-Walz said the decision sent a “terrible message” and announced it was disbanding and withdrawing its support from the campaign.

Harris, who has vowed “not to be silent” about the suffering of Palestinians, recently met with members of the national “Uncommitted” movement that led the charge against Biden during the Democratic primary process. Although she made no firm promises, leaders said she impressed them with a show of empathy.

At the forefront of concerns are Israel’s 10 months of military operations in Gaza, which have devastated the Palestinian enclave since fighting broke out in response to Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

Growing influence

Michigan, home to the “big three” automakers — Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler — has long been an essential stop for White House aspirants.

Economic downturns in the 1970s led many to leave the so-called “Rust Belt” state, just as unrest in the Middle East brought new waves of Lebanese, Iraqi, Yemeni, and Palestinian immigrants.

“We’re a global city, where nearly 55 per cent of our residents are of Arab background,” said Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud in a recent interview. “For many of us, when you talk about what’s happening in Gaza, these are our family and our friends.”

Famous as the birthplace of Henry Ford, Dearborn appears at first glance just like any small US city, with its wide thoroughfares and strip malls.

But it is also home to the Islamic Center of America — the largest mosque in the country — and countless Middle Eastern supermarkets, eateries, and coffee shops. When Siblani first started his newspaper in the mid-1980s, he remembers the then-mayor campaigned on a platform to address the “Arab problem.”

But as the community’s numbers grew, and the children of blue-collar factory workers took up positions as lawyers, doctors, and businesspeople, so too did their political influence.

‘Lesser of two evils’

Historically socially conservative Arab and Muslim Americans heavily favoured George W Bush in the 2000 election.

Years of the US “War on Terror” — which saw wars in the Middle East and Afghanistan and Muslim American communities put under stricter law enforcement scrutiny — swung them firmly to the Democratic camp.

In 2018, southeast Michiganders elected Rashida Tlaib, the first Palestinian-American woman in Congress — a milestone for the community. Three Arab-American mayors have also recently been elected in suburbs known for historic racism towards non-whites.

Angered by former president Donald Trump’s travel ban on Muslim countries, support for Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, and more, Dearborn voters overwhelmingly backed Biden in 2020, helping secure Michigan for the Democrats by a slim margin.

Residents here are tired, however, of being asked to vote for the “lesser of two evils” and instead want candidates who will deliver on demands, such as a permanent ceasefire and an end to the supply of weapons to Israel.

“I think VP Harris has a window of opportunity,” said Faye Nemer, a community activist and CEO of the MENA American Chamber of Commerce. “She can either continue President Biden’s legacy or set her own agenda.”

Arab-Americans in Dearborn have been impressed by Harris’s pick of Tim Walz as her running mate. Walz has taken a conciliatory approach to opponents of the war, unlike Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, who took a hard line against college protesters. But demands are hardening.

“We don’t want crumbs anymore,” declared Soujoud Hamade, a business lawyer and long-time Democrat, who vowed to vote for Green Party candidate Jill Stein if Harris did not deliver on the campaign trail.

“What will matter most in my vote in the November presidential election will be the candidates’ stance on foreign affairs and whether or not they take a humanitarian-oriented stance on what’s happening in Gaza, the occupied West Bank, Lebanon, and Syria,” said Hamade.