TWith less than a month to go until the election, the Trump campaign plans to open an office in Hamtramck, a small city of about 28,000 people north of downtown Detroit, a special feature of the 2024 presidential election. It shows his curiosity.
Approximately 40% of Hamtramck’s residents are of Middle Eastern or North African descent, 60% are considered Muslim Americans, and the City Council is all Muslim.
Last week, Bangladeshi, Yemeni and other Arab and Muslim-majority people turned out to attend the official opening of the Trump administration as Israel expanded its war into Lebanon and continued daily shelling of Gaza. Many local residents, many immigrants from other countries, lined up on Joseph Campau Avenue. office.
“There will be no peace in the Middle East under a Harris administration. She is too weak,” said Barry Altman, a Republican candidate running for the Michigan House of Representatives next month and head of the new Trump campaign office. . A recent afternoon. “Trump is our only hope for peace.”
Mr. Altman is not alone. Last month, Hamtramck Democratic Mayor Ameer Ghalib met with former President Donald Trump at a rally in Flint, Michigan, and expressed support for him after speaking with him for about 20 minutes.
Arab Americans have been a solid Democratic base in past elections, especially given the years after 9/11 and President Trump’s overtly anti-Muslim rhetoric. However, Kamala Harris is reportedly “under water” in Michigan, where recent polls show she has a three-point lead over Trump among likely voters, and by last month had lost the former president. Although they had a five-point lead, Muslim and Arab American communities across Michigan could play a role. It has a major impact on the outcome of the presidential election.
Arab Americans angry about the Biden administration and, by extension, Kamala Harris’ support for Israel, may be willing to ignore President Trump’s history of closeness with Israel’s far-right leaders. “If and when someone says that if I become president, America will be strong again and we will be closer to (Israel) than we have ever been, then that will be,” he said last week. “I support Israel’s right to win the war.”
However, national polls show that Arab Americans slightly support the former president. Some people are increasingly supporting the Green Party’s Jill Stein.
Mr. Hamtramck may not be able to sway national elections alone, but as Israel’s war in Gaza enters its second year and extends to Lebanon, many Muslims and Arab Americans are wondering what they think of their political leaders. This will give you a clue as to how you feel.
Hamtramck aside, an estimated 140,000 people live in Macomb and Oakland counties north of downtown Detroit, or about 45% of Michigan’s entire Arab-American community of more than 300,000 people. do.
Past elections have shown that voting results in these counties have historically been very close.
In 2020, Trump won 53% of the vote in Macomb County, which is home to an estimated 65,000 to 80,000 Arab Americans. Voters were also divided in Macomb County, with Trump winning by 11% in Sterling Heights, home to a large Iraqi-Chaldean community, but Biden winning by 14% in the neighboring city of Warren. did.
In neighboring Oakland County, a largely suburban community of about 60,000 people who identify as Arab-American, Biden won 56% of the vote four years ago.
But over the past year, Biden and Harris have repeatedly come under fire from Michigan’s Arab and Muslim communities. Earlier this year, many regional leaders refused to meet with Democratic campaign officials rather than representatives of the Biden administration to discuss the war in Gaza. A few weeks later, more than 100,000 people in Michigan voted “irresponsible” in the Democratic primary in protest of Biden’s Gaza policy.
Despite some initial cautious optimism, the situation has not changed significantly even with Biden replacing Harris at the top, especially as the situation in the Middle East becomes more volatile. .
“Mr. Harris has made it clear that she wants to continue funding the state of Israel,” “Abandon Harris” campaign director Hassan Abdel Salam told Jill Stein at a press conference in Dearborn on Wednesday. He officially endorsed him as a presidential candidate.
Harris has maintained her position on Israel’s right to self-defense, largely ignoring the terms put forward by the Indomitable Movement, which rejected her support (but has taken a hard line against Trump) ). Among Arab Americans, Harris is 18 points below Biden’s 2020 level of support, according to an Arab American Institute poll.
“We know there are 40,000 voters in Dearborn alone who are very persuasive to our cause and who will vote against Ms. Harris if they go to the polls. I fundamentally believe,” Abdel Salam said.
“The former president blocked our family, friends and colleagues from entering the country,” he continued, referring to Trump’s 2017 travel ban on Muslim-majority countries. “But the vice president killed them.”
President Trump’s visit to Detroit on Thursday will be the former president’s 11th visit to the state. Harris has campaigned here five times so far.
FA few years ago, Hamtramck voters overwhelmingly supported Biden, with the president receiving 86% of the vote. One of them is Muhammad Hashim, who immigrated to the United States from Bangladesh more than 30 years ago and now runs a grocery store serving the South Asian community in downtown Hamtramck.
But Democrats won’t get his votes this time.
“Biden has messed up the country, he’s really bad for the middle class. We’re struggling to survive and today we’re not getting any help,” he says.
Meanwhile, they hope Trump will use his business acumen to lower the cost of the products he sells in his stores, many of which are imported from overseas. “Trump isn’t perfect, but we don’t have a choice,” he says.
Another major concern for Hashim is the Gaza Strip, where Israeli attacks have killed more than 42,000 people. “The number one reason[I’m not voting for Harris]is because she supports Israel 100 percent,” he said.
Hamtramck is considered one of the most diverse cities in the country and is home to the first city council in the United States made up entirely of Muslims.
Still, residents and local leaders say Hamtramck’s mayor’s support for Trump doesn’t necessarily represent the entire community. Several Hamtramck city leaders are trying to rally support for Harris. In recent weeks, dozens of prominent Muslim leaders have endorsed Harris, as has Emgage Action, a Muslim voter registration group. On October 3, an organization created to galvanize Arab American supporters of the Harris Waltz Ticket across the country was announced.
“We are at a moment right now where our communities are suffering and being hurt in countless ways. We are also at a moment where our communities are suffering and being hurt in countless ways. We’ve seen the risks and the risks that come with that,” said Harris Waltz’s Arab American spokesperson. “We’re not saying there’s no risk under a Harris administration, but the risks are much higher under a Trump administration. I believe that.”
Meanwhile, in Hamtramck, outside the new Trump campaign offices, the Rev. Altman, who until last year was an independent, invites high school students inside to drink bottles of pop. He handed them Trump flyers and his own campaign materials and told them to share them with their parents.
