Michigan's Muslim Voters Sent Kamala Harris a 'Message'—Democrat
Published Nov 06, 2024
"Democratic Representative Debbie Dingell said Michigan's Muslim voters sent
Kamala Harris and her party a "message" after Donald Trump and Green Party
candidate Jill Stein together took nearly 70 percent of the vote in Dearborn,
where 55 percent of the residents are of Middle Eastern descent.
Trump won 47 percent of the Dearborn vote, while Harris got 28 percent and
Stein had 22 percent, according to preliminary totals.
Trump also made gains in Hamtramck, Michigan, fueled by anger in the Arab
American and Muslim communities over deaths in Gaza, Lebanon and Yemen.
These two cities, with the highest percentage of Arab Americans in the United
States, were specifically targeted by Trump and his campaign. The former
president visited both areas in recent weeks.
Joe Biden won Dearborn by a 3-to-1 margin in 2020, but this year Muslim
voters in Metro Detroit had clearly soured on the Biden-Harris administration's
handling of the Israel-Hamas war.
In contrast to Harris, Democratic Representative Rashida Tlaib, a progressive
Palestinian American, secured 62 percent of the vote in Dearborn and was
handily reelected to a fourth term on Election Day.
Newsweek emailed the Trump and Harris campaigns for comment on Tuesday
afternoon.
In an interview Wednesday morning with CNN's Erin Burnett, Dingell was asked
about the results in Dearborn.
"I think that the community is trying to send a message. What is going on in the
Mideast is tearing people apart, and it's particularly hard in Michigan. People are
raw and hurting on both sides," the congresswoman said.
"Quite frankly, I get killed by both sides. I get protested, I get threats, and I listen to
them. A lot of people are unwilling to put their selves out there and listen and
understand what their hurt is and what they're saying."
Dingell continued, "Quite frankly, I think the fear of people on all sides, being
willing to talk to them, is what results in Jill Stein getting support. People are
angry, they've lost family members. I feel like the war in the Mideast has come to
Michigan, and even people inside the Democratic Party are at each other's
throats. It's not good."
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Israel invaded Gaza after Hamas' October 7, 2023, attack that killed about 1,200
people, and last month it launched an invasion of southern Lebanon to suppress
Hezbollah, the militant group that has continually launched rockets into Israeli
territory. At least 43,000 people have died in Gaza, according to Gaza's Ministry
of Health which does not distinguish in its death toll between combatants and
civilians.
Michigan has more than 200,000 Muslim voters, along with 300,000 with
Middle Eastern or North African ancestry. Biden won there in 2020 by 154,000
votes, while Trump carried the state with a victory margin of just 10,700—or 0.23
percent—in 2016.
This year, Trump defeated Harris in Michigan. The Associated Press called the
race at 12:54 p.m. on Wednesday. With 98 percent of Michigan's estimated votes
tallied, Trump's unofficial count stands at 49 percent, compared with Harris' 48.3
percent.
Dingell also spoke candidly about the "soul-searching" needed within the
Democratic Party after Trump's resounding win.
"I'm going to be very blunt. As Democrats, we've got to do some soul-searching.
We're getting the message from a lot of people that we're not hearing them. I
hope we'll take the time to do the soul-0searching that we have to do," Dingell
told Burnett.
Stein's press release after Trump's election victory also took aim at the
Democrats.
"The Democrats have no one but themselves to blame for losing to Trump again,
after their decades of failures and betrayals that paved the way for Trump's rise in
the first place. From their unconditional support for the endless war machine and
genocide in Gaza, to their subservience to Wall Street, to their indifference to
human rights, to their reckless acceleration of the fossil fuel pollution driving
climate collapse, to their assault on democracy - on all these issues and many
more the Democratic Party has betrayed the trust of the people," the statement
said. "This election removes any remaining doubt that the Democratic Party has
utterly failed the people it claims to represent, and that we need a genuine
opposition party for people, planet, and peace.
Update: 11/6/2024, 5:30 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with a statement
from Dr. Jill Stein."
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