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WASHINGTON —In the run-up to the presidential election, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign has increased its outreach to Arab and Muslim Americans, particularly in battleground state Michigan. But it is her Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump, who has made surprising gains with this group that makes up a significant portion of voters angry about President Joe Biden's policies on the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
On Friday, Trump visited a halal cafe in Dearborn, Michigan, a city dubbed the Arab capital of America, in a state home to almost 400,000 Arab Americans. Many of them have expressed determination to punish Harris over the Biden administration's support for Israel.
"We have a great feeling for Lebanon, and I know so many people from Lebanon, the Lebanese people," Trump said in response to a reporter asking him for the reason of his visit. "The Muslim population, they're liking Trump, and I've had a good relationship with them. This is it. This is where they are, Dearborn. But we want their votes, and we're looking for their votes, and I think we'll get their votes."
Trump's visit is a continuation of his outreach to the Arab and Muslim community that has resulted in endorsements from leaders of two nearby Michigan cities that, while tiny, carry symbolic importance. Bill Bazzi, the first Muslim and Arab American mayor of Dearborn Heights, and Amer Ghalib, the Yemeni American mayor of Hamtramck, the only U.S. city with an all-Muslim city council, have both endorsed the Republican candidate.
"My meeting with President Trump was positive, and we hope that he can change the current situation," Ghalib told VOA. "He said he doesn't want wars, and he will listen to our concerns."
Three of the six members of the Hamtramck City Council followed Ghalib's endorsement and the rest endorsed Harris - a split that reflects the community's polarized views of the candidates.
"Harris has answered this question many times that she is going to work with Gaza. She's going to be fair with people of Gaza," council member Mohammed Alsomiri told VOA. "Trump, I don't believe him, and I don't trust him."
Imam endorses Trump
The former president has been courting the group intensively. At a rally last week in the Detroit suburb of Novi, about a half hour drive from Dearborn, he said Muslim and Arab voters "want a stop to the endless wars and a return to peace in the Middle East. That's all they want."
Trump was joined onstage by what his campaign described as "prominent leaders of Michigan's Muslim community," including Imam Belal Alzuhairi of the Great Mosque of Hamtramck.
"We, as Muslims, stand with President Trump because he promises peace, not war!" said Alzuhairi.
This despite Trump suggesting that he would give Israel's military offensives against Hamas and Hezbollah more leeway, telling Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a recent call to "do what you have to do." He often boasts he will end the wars in the Middle East "in 24 hours," without explaining how.
As president, Trump in 2017 called for a "total and complete shutdown" on Muslims, banning individuals from six Muslim-majority countries from entering, a policy that activists said was "cruel, inhumane, and violated international law."
The Trump campaign has not responded to VOA's queries on outreach to the community.
Harris' outreach
On the anniversary of Hamas' October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, 25 Muslim leaders released an open letter telling Muslim voters that backing Harris "far outweighs the harms of the other options."
The Harris campaign says it has been "working hard" to engage the community. The vice president met with a small group of leaders in Detroit, Michigan, in August, shortly after she became the Democratic nominee, and with leaders in Flint, Michigan, in early October. She has had one other meeting since then with Black imams and community leaders in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, another key swing state.
The Harris campaign said it is "working hard" to engage the community. The vice president met twice with a small group of leaders in Michigan, in Detroit in August shortly after she became the Democratic nominee and in Flint in early October. She has had one other meeting since then, with Black imams and community leaders in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, another key swing state.
Afghan American Nasrina Bargzie and Egyptian American Brenda Abdelal, two lawyers spearheading Muslim and Arab outreach for the Harris campaign, have met with groups in Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, Minnesota, Arizona and Nevada, the Harris campaign told VOA. Phil Gordon, Harris' national security adviser, met virtually in early October with leaders across the country, the campaign said.
But many of these meetings have been with friendlier groups, suggesting that they were not aimed at changing hearts and minds. Gordon's meeting excluded major Muslim and Arab organizations as well as pro-Palestinian activist groups and was more of a "check the box" engagement, according to James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute, who participated in the eight-person meeting.
Governor Tim Walz, Harris' vice presidential pick, has had one engagement with Arab and Muslim Americans, an October virtual meeting with Emgage Action, the political arm of an 18-year-old Muslim American advocacy group, which already endorsed the Democratic presidential candidate in September.
Third-party candidates
While polls suggest Arab Americans' and Muslim Americans' support for Trump is unlikely to surpass their support of Harris'- they also show that third-party candidates could pull a significant portion of votes from her. In Michigan, Green Party candidate Jill Stein has been campaigning on a platform to "end the genocide."
A poll released Friday by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, the nation's largest Muslim advocacy organization, showed that 29.4% of American Muslims plan to vote for Harris, 29.1% for Stein, and 11.2% for Trump. More than 16% remain undecided.
The numbers suggest an improvement for Harris and Trump among the group. Before Biden's withdrawal, CAIR's poll showed Biden received 7.3% support and Trump 4.9%.
Compared to Biden, Harris has been more vocal in expressing sympathy for Palestinians and calling out Israel to "follow humanitarian law." She has also addressed the suffering in Lebanon and announced $157 million in assistance from the administration.
At a Harris rally in Ann Arbor, Michigan, this week, Assad Turfe, an Arab American official from nearby Wayne County, said that Harris is a leader "who will give voice to our pain."
But in that rally, Harris was heckled by pro-Palestinian protesters, as she has been in other campaign events.
"Hey, guys, I hear you," she said. "We all want this war to end as soon as possible."
A candidate must secure a minimum of 270 out of 538 Electoral College votes to win. With 16 Electoral College votes, Michigan could tip the balance in what is expected to be a close election. Biden won the state in 2020 by 154,000 votes. In 2016, Trump won the state over Hillary Clinton by just under 11,000 votes.
The Israel-Hamas war in Gaza has been a divisive issue among the community. At a Dearborn news conference announcing Arab American leaders' endorsement for Harris earlier this week, a group of anti-Harris Arab Americans confronted them, calling them traitors.
Ronald Stockton, a professor emeritus at the University of Michigan-Dearborn who has studied the community for decades, said he had never seen such polarization.
"There will be permanent scars left behind," Stockton told VOA. "Like battlefield scars that remain decades after the war ends."
VOA's Iram Abbasi contributed to this report.