As the countdown to the presidential election on November 5 approaches, the race intensifies between the Democratic candidate, Vice President Harris and the Republican candidate, former President Trump, to attract Arab American voters in the Greater Detroit area, where they are expected to play a decisive role in tipping the scales in the swing state of Michigan, potentially deciding the 47th president of the United States.

The intense rivalry between the candidates entered a new phase last week, with both candidates seeking to appeal to Arab Americans disappointed by their support for Israel and its aggressive war on Gaza and Lebanon. This discontent was reflected in the exclusion of both candidates from the endorsement list by the Arab American Political Action Committee (AAPAC) for the upcoming November election, a stance fully supported by The Arab American News.

The release of the endorsements list, advising Arab American voters in Michigan not to support either presidential candidate, garnered unprecedented media attention inside and outside the United States. This spurred an urgent response from both the Trump and Harris campaigns, with each racing to try to regain the trust of Arab Americans through repeated visits to the Detroit area, initiatives and efforts aimed at winning their favor — primarily by softening statements supportive of Israel’s war on Gaza and Lebanon and pledging to promote peace and ways to recover from the impacts of the escalating Middle East conflict.

Trump and Harris visited Michigan last week and are scheduled to return to the Detroit area this weekend to bolster their chances of winning the swing state that played a significant role in deciding the 2016 presidential election, giving Trump a victory margin of less than 11,000 votes, before the state leaned toward Democratic President Biden in the 2020 race with a margin of about 153,000 votes.

The fierce competition in the “purple” state has led to an unprecedented rise in the electoral influence of Arab and Muslim Americans in Michigan, particularly amid their shifting political positions due to the repercussions of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza and Lebanon. However, this has not prevented their division into four distinct groups: one advocating for boycotting the presidential race, while the others split their support among Trump, Harris or Green Party candidate Jill Stein, who aims to establish her party’s standing in the U.S. political landscape.

Trump’s campaign made a notable turn on Friday, October 18, when the former president personally visited Hamtramck and met with several supporters at his campaign office, which had opened in that city earlier this month.

Trump’s visit to Hamtramck marked an unprecedented move in a city that is a historic Democratic stronghold, boasting the largest percentage of immigrants and Muslims in the city. The entire City Council comprises Muslim members, including Yemeni-born Mayor Amer Ghalib, who previously endorsed Trump due to his opposition to the Democrats’ domestic and foreign policies.

During the visit, Trump said he was “honored” by Ghalib’s endorsement, dismissing reports that he planned to deport Arab and Muslim Americans from the U.S. as “fake news” and pledging, if re-elected, to end wars in the Middle East and around the world.

“As you know, we all ultimately want one thing, which is peace in the Middle East, and we will achieve peace there,” Trump said, to which one attendee responded, “We trust you.”

Trump expressed optimism about attracting more Arab American support, doubting that Harris would win their backing.

Well, I don’t think they’ll vote for Harris because she doesn’t know what she’s doing,” he told reporters after his plane landed at Detroit Metro Airport that day.

Dearborn Heights Mayor Bill Bazzi adds his endorsements to Trump

Meanwhile, Dearborn Heights Mayor Bill Bazzi expressed support for Trump in the presidential race and formally endorsing his campaign, as he clarified to The Arab American News in response to social media posts reporting his support for the Republican candidate. Bazzi released a statement to The Arab American News on Thursday night expressing his strong endorsement of Trump for president.

Bazzi told The Arab American New that last week he was asked to participate in a conversation regarding Kamala Harris bringing former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, to campaign with her in Michigan. Imam Husham Al-Husainy, an Iraqi American and the religious leader of the Karbalaa Islamic Education Center, and Ghalib were also asked to participate in the conversation. Bazzi said that he was disgusted with Harris’ decision, indicating that the Republican former vice president was mainly responsible for launching unjust and unprovoked war on Iraq by falsely claiming that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.  He further noted that Cheney’s company benefited by approximately $40 billion from the Iraq war and it was a slap in the face to bring his daughter — the family that does not know peace — to our backyard in Michigan.

Bazzi spoke about his experience as an immigrant from South Lebanon who faced the brutal reality of war as a young child, and watching civilians being viciously killed has been excruciating, knowing that they have nowhere to escape.

He indicated that we may all recall that there were “no wars during Trump’s administration and now we find ourselves facing unprecedented wars under the Biden-Harris administration, in Ukraine and the Middle East.”

“Due to the lack of good leadership and accountability of this administration, many countries are now beating the drums of war,” he said.

“We need a strong commander-in-chief that is able to stop the wars,” he added.  “The wars currently taking place have opened the gateways of more threats from additional countries which could lead us to WWIII.”

Bazzi told The Arab American News that he has been speaking with students from various universities who are working on humanitarian relief initiatives, and they are in fear of the additional threats of war around the world.  Many are comparing the state of our country’s economy and the unprecedented wars over the last four years to the previous four years, and noted that this is something they have never seen before. Due to these important factors and comparison, most of these students are supporting Trump, he said.

Bazzi also shared that the ancestral homes his grandparents built brick-by-brick in South Lebanon, like countless others, have recently been destroyed by Israeli bombardment.

“As an immigrant from the beautiful Bint Jbiel, which has now been reduced to rubble, my heart aches for the masses of people, including children, who are being burned alive and obliterated in their own homes, hospitals and displacement tents,” Bazzi told The Arab American News. “Unlike my family and so many others who were able to immigrate to the U.S. and seek opportunities for a better life, the people of Lebanon and Gaza are now stranded, starving and dying with nowhere to run and a grim future if any.

“The two counties are being demolished, along with the people, while numerous other countries are gearing up for what appears to be WWIII.  Meanwhile on the homefront, people in our community are heartbroken and distraught with the number of family members who have been killed, while this administration continues to send billions of dollars in military aid to Israel, which is being used to annihilate innocent civilians in violation of international law and our own law as well.”

“Billions are being sent to the Israeli military for destruction rather than demanding a ceasefire, investing in our own economy and our severely failing infrastructure.  We have experienced the Trump administration with no wars and a more prosperous economy and now the Biden-Harris administration, with unprecedented bloodshed and a devastating economy. We as a global community may not survive (in every sense of the word) another four years of the Biden-Harris administration. Since one of these two parties will be elected, I am supporting Donald Trump for president.”

Harris garners more endorsements from local Arab and Muslim Americans

On the other side, Harris managed to gain some support among Arab and Muslim Americans in Michigan, a state she has visited several times in recent weeks, expressing her gratitude for the early support shown by Deputy Wayne County Executive Assad Turfe in September.

Harris began her remarks in Waterford on Friday, October 18, with an emotional appeal for peace in the Middle East following the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.

“I know this year has been extremely difficult, considering the scale of death and destruction in Gaza and the civilian losses and displacement in Lebanon… It’s devastating,” she said. “Now, Sinwar’s death could be a turning point, and it should be… Everyone should seize this opportunity to finally end the war in Gaza and end the suffering once and for all.”

Despite the lack of support from several Arab American Democratic leaders in the November 5 presidential race, including Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud, Palestinian American U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, Michigan State Representative Alabas Farhat and Wayne County Commissioner Sam Baydoun, Harris received backing from some Arab American activists, including former ACCESS Executive Director and veteran activist Ismael (Ish) Ahmed and Ahmed Chebbani, Chairman of the Board of the American Arab Chamber of Commerce, as well as support from the Emgage organization and Black Muslim imams in the Detroit area and other regions.

Meanwhile, advocates of the “Uncommitted” voting campaign in the U.S. presidential primaries decided to proceed without endorsing the Democratic candidate, who ignored Arab Americans’ demands for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in the occupied territories and an end to military and financial aid to Israel.

The aforementioned campaign released a statement in September, urging voters not to support the vice president in the election, while also warning against voting for Trump or any “third option” in swing states, particularly in the Great Lakes State.

Ultimately, the “Abandon Harris” group decided to endorse Green Party candidate Dr. Jill Stein, who has visited Dearborn four times since Israel launched its brutal war on Gaza on October 7, 2023, during which she participated in protests and demonstrations against Israel.

Additionally, Stein received support from the American Muslim and American Arab and Muslim Political Action Committee (AMPAC), the Muslim American Society (MAS), the U.S. Council of Muslims, the American Muslim Alliance, Americans for Justice in Palestine and several public figures and activists within the Arab and Muslim-American community in Michigan.

At the beginning of next week, Arab Americans households in Dearborn, Dearborn Heights and other cities in Metro Detroit will receive the Arab American Political Action Committee (AAPAC) mailer encouraging them to get out and vote, but not for either Harris or Trump or for either Elissa Slotkin or Mike Rogers for U.S. senate. However, AAPAC is encouraging Arab American voters to vote down the ballot for the rest of the endorsed slate.