Stein fourth visit to Dearborn: I’m the candidate against genocide!

With less than a month to go before the presidential election on November 5, Arab and American Muslim voters in Michigan remain staunch in their refusal to support Republican candidate Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Kamala Harris, despite their campaigns’ attempts to reach out without any tangible commitments.

Vice President Harris has been attempting to mend the rift caused by the Biden administration’s support for ongoing Israeli aggression in Gaza and Lebanon. Arab and Muslim Americans strongly believe she is complicit and in on the killing and destruction in Gaza and Lebanon. Former President Trump, on the other hand, has been sending emissaries to court the vote, while overbidding Harris on his support and loyalty to Israel. Meanwhile Green Party candidate Jill Stein visited Dearborn last week for the fourth time in a few months to urge voters to back her as a way to punish both the Democratic and Republican candidates for their unconditional support of Israel and the genocide against the Palestinian people.

Some Arab and Muslim American activists are considering supporting Stein to defeat Harris in the election, even if Trump will indirectly benefit from their defection from the Democrats. Arab Americans overwhelmingly voted for Biden against Trump in the 2020 presidential election.

Stein’s momentum

On Sunday, Stein made her fourth visit to Dearborn since announcing her White House bid, telling a crowd at the Bint Jebail Cultural Center that she is the best choice for Arab and Muslim American voters seeking to punish the Democrats.

“We are committed to the moral compass that says ‘No’ to genocide, and ‘No’ to the endless empire and its endless war machine,” Stein said, urging Arab and Muslim voters to reject calls to support Harris.

“The Democrats are scared, and they should be scared,” she added, noting that they “could fix this and regain Muslim votes if they wanted to”, but that they would “rather lose the election than stop the genocide.”

“The Democrats have lost the votes of Arab and Muslim Americans,” Stein said in an interview with Reuters. “They will lose enough swing states that they cannot win, and they will not be able to win.”

Stein suggested that Democrats could regain these voters by implementing an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon and halting arms sales to Israel, but there are no indications that they will take such steps.

When asked if she might act as a “spoiler” by taking votes away from Harris and thereby helping Trump win in swing states, Stein said a Trump victory would be “terrible”, but that “the same applies to four more years of Democratic rule, given high living costs, wars in Gaza and Lebanon and attacks on civil liberties.”

Following Stein’s visit to Dearborn, the “Abandon Harris” campaign endorsed Stein and her running mate, Dr. Rudolf Weir, asserting their opposition to oppression and commitment to using all their power to stop genocide wherever it occurs.

“We will not choose between bad and worse,” the group declared, explaining that voters face “two destructive forces: one overseeing genocide and the other equally committed to continuing it. Both are determined to continue until the end.”

The campaign urged “American Muslim voters and all those who stand firmly against genocide to vote for the Green Party in the 2024 election.”

As Harris faces significant challenges in winning over Arab and Muslim voters disappointed with the Biden administration’s stance on Israeli aggression, Trump is also making efforts to attract those disaffected voters. His campaign opened an office last Saturday in Hamtramck, a Muslim-majority city, following the former president’s endorsement by Yemeni American Mayor Amer Ghalib.

Trump calling Yemeni immigrants “terrorists” helps sway three Hamtramck councilmen to abandon him and back Harris

However, the endorsement of Hamtramck’s mayor took a blow from Trump himself after his recent recent comments calling Middle Eastern immigrants “known terrorists.” As a result three Muslim Hamtramck City Council members have endorsed Harris following Trump’s comments.

Mohammad Alsomiri, Mohammed Hassan and Muhith Mahmood said the Trump campaign has reached out to them several times in the past few months in hopes of gaining their endorsements, but all three say they plan to support Harris, in part due to a comment by Trump at a Pennsylvania rally earlier this month.

“Unless he makes a statement about what he said in Pennsylvania, then (many) are not going to vote for him,” Hassan said.

Hassan was among the Hamtramck councilmen who attended a Trump campaign rally in Warren in late September.

“I didn’t see any clear policy,” he said of Trump’s speech in Warren. “It did not impress me.”

Councilman Alsomori said he “listened to the other side and I don’t see the reason to change.

“We are Democrats,” he added. “That started with [former President] Obama.”

Hamtramck, a city of 28,000, has attracted much media attention in recent years after residents elected an all-Muslim City Council and a Muslim mayor in 2021. About half of the city’s population is either of Yemeni or Bangladeshi descent, according to U.S. Census data.

Mayor Ghalib, a Yemeni immigrant, garnered international press this fall after he endorsed Trump, a rare move for a politician of Middle Eastern heritage. Ghalib has met Trump twice during recent campaign events in Michigan.

Before endorsing Harris, Alsomiri, Hassan and Mahmood were part of the Uncommitted Movement, which began earlier this year among Democratic voters who refused to back President Biden in their state primaries over opposition to his support of Israel in the Gaza war. More than 100,000 Michigan Democratic primary voters cast ballots for “uncommitted” earlier this year.

Hassan said a major incentive to endorse Harris came after Trump described Middle Eastern and Yemeni immigrants as “known terrorists” at an Oct. 4 campaign event in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Trump said U.S. immigrants from a wide range of non-European countries include many “criminals” and “terrorists”, according to video of his speech.

“They’re coming out from the Middle East, Yemen,” Trump said. “A lot of people coming out of Yemen, and they’re known terrorists, and they just release them into our country.”

The comment has been shared widely on social media, Hassan said.

He and more than 100 people met on Sunday in Hamtramck to discuss endorsing Harris.

“There were many former politicians from (Hamtramck) there too,” he said.

Harris’ campaign

Harris met with Arab and Muslim leaders for 20 minutes during her visit to Flint last Friday as part of her campaign’s efforts to regain the support of voters upset over the Biden administration’s backing of the war in Gaza and Lebanon.

According to Reuters, the meeting was one of several recent attempts by the Harris campaign to repair relations with Muslim and Arab voters, who strongly supported Joe Biden in 2020, but may withhold their votes from Harris in numbers that could cost her Michigan, a key battleground state in the presidential race.

During the meeting, which included individuals who had previously endorsed Harris, the Democratic candidate expressed her “concern about the suffering in Gaza, civilian casualties and displacement in Lebanon” and discussed efforts to end the war and prevent a regional conflict, according to a campaign official.

The meeting included Wa’el Alzayat, CEO of Emgage Action, which recently endorsed Harris, Ed Gabriel, president and CEO of the American Task Force on Lebanon, Wayne County Deputy Executive Assad Turfe and others.

Alzayat revealed that participants expressed deep disappointment with the administration’s handling of the crisis in the Middle East and urged Harris to do everything possible to end the war and reset U.S. policy in the region.

Emgage, which endorsed Harris last month, said it disagrees with her stance on the war in Gaza, but views Trump as a greater threat. A separate group, Arab Americans for Harris-Walz, was launched last week. Emgage Action is currently the largest American Muslim organization to endorse Harris in the White House race. But, Emgage received a backlash from Muslims across the country and especially in Michigan because of its endorsement of Harris.

Harris warns Muslim American of Trump’s presidency

Last week, in an attempt to suggest that Harris still enjoys support from American Muslims, her campaign circulated an endorsement letter signed by 25 imams and leaders from religious and social institutions in various states, including North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Texas, California, Maryland, Wisconsin, New Jersey, Washington, D.C. and Michigan. The letter emphasized “the importance of logical thinking in voting decisions”, asserting that supporting Harris is “the best option” to end the war in Gaza and Lebanon compared to the other choice.

The letter warned that Trump’s return to power would “pose a great threat to the Muslim community” and cautioned that voting for a third-party candidate in swing states “could help Trump win those states and thus win the election.”

Many of the signatories were African American religious leaders, with only one from Michigan — Sheikh Mikail Stewart Saadiq — while some, such as Sheikh Rashad Abdulrahman from Georgia, had previously visited Israel.

The Harris team is struggling with a significant lack of prominent Muslim support, especially as many have gravitated toward anti-war candidates like Stein and independent candidate Cornel West. At the same time, some activists are calling the community to back Trump to ensure Harris’ defeat in November.

At a rally protesting the genocide in Gaza and aggression on Lebanon in Dearborn, Abed Hammoud, the founder of the Arab American Political Action Committee (AAPAC),  said that Arab American voters in Michigan should do everything in their power to “send Harris back to California, not to the White House”, insisting that fear of Trump “will not benefit” the Democrats and that “we are not afraid of who will win.”

AAPAC members will will meet to decide who to endorse in the presidential race this Sunday.

Renewed promises

In a recent attempt to attract Muslim voters, Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential candidate, promised American Muslims a “prominent and appropriate role” in the administration if the Democrats win the election.

During an online meeting organized by Emgage Action, Walz reaffirmed his and Harris’ commitment to continue “denouncing all forms of Islamophobia and Arabophobia led by Donald Trump, but more importantly, ensuring that Muslims will be part of this administration and serve alongside us.”

Walz reiterated his pledge to support Israel while attempting to reassure Muslims with promises of inclusion in decision-making. He acknowledged the “devastating” level of death and destruction in Gaza, claiming that Harris is working to ensure that “the suffering in Gaza ends now and that the Palestinian people achieve their right to dignity, freedom and self-determination.”

Other speakers at the event included Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen from Maryland and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, both of whom suggested that Harris could represent a shift from Biden’s Middle East approach.

“I know she’s a good listener,” Ellison said. “She’s capable of changing her mind.”

He added that Harris wasn’t born in the 1940s like Biden or Trump. “I won’t promise you a rosy garden if Harris is elected, but we will open a door that’s not closed.”

Harris had visited Dearborn during her 2020 presidential campaign, promising Arab and Muslim leaders “a seat at the decision-making table”, but the Biden administration did not fulfill that promise.

A Republican Super PAC campaign targets Arab American voters to sway them  not to vote for Harris

A Republican-aligned group, Future Coalition PAC, has been running digital ads targeting Arab and Muslim communities in Michigan, emphasizing Harris’s support for Israel. These ads aim to influence voters who are critical of U.S. policies toward Israel, particularly regarding the Gaza conflict. The campaign highlights Harris’ pro-Israel stance, including moments when she has “stood with Israel” and responded to pro-Palestinian protests.

These ads are part of a broader Republican strategy to sway voters in key battleground states like Michigan, where Arab and Muslim voters could play a crucial role in the 2024 election. The Future Coalition PAC has been micro-targeting these communities through platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, attempting to draw attention to Harris’ ties to Israel in an effort to reduce her support among these voters.

In his campaign to appeal to Arab and Muslim voters, former President Trump has positioned himself as the only candidate who has brought lasting peace to the Middle East. His campaign official, Richard Grenell, emphasized this point during meetings with Arab leaders in swing states like Michigan and Arizona. Trump’s message to these voters is that his leadership is key to peace and stability in the region, contrasting it with the ongoing wars in Gaza and Lebanon under the current administration.

– This article was produced as part of the 2024 Elections Reporting Grant Program, organized by the Center for Community Media and funded by the Jonathan Logan Family Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation and the Tow Foundation. It has been edited for style.