Harris Visits Michigan As Campaign Faces Gaza-Related Threats on All Fronts

Vice President Kamala Harris is zeroing in on Michigan this week amid concerns that the crisis in Gaza could cost her votes among the battleground state’s Muslim-American community.

Harris is set to campaign in Detroit, Lansing, Oakland County and Grand Rapids this week. Michigan is one of the swing states that could determine the outcome of the presidential race, with Harris leading former President Donald Trump by only 0.8 points in FiveThirtyEight’s polling average on Tuesday. On October 8, Harris led by 1.7 points.

The war between Israel and Hamas will be a key issue for Michigan, home to a higher concentration of Muslim voters than other battlegrounds. Harris faces the possibility that some Muslim voters could sit out the election or vote for another candidate over the Biden administration’s handling of the conflict.

There are about 206,000 registered Muslim voters in Michigan, largely concentrated in the Detroit area, as well as in Dearborn, which is about 8 miles west and is the first Arab-majority city in the U.S. Four years ago in 2020, Michigan voters narrowly backed Joe Biden by fewer than 155,000 votes.

Biden and Harris have defended Israel’s right to defend itself against Hamas after its attack against Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 Israelis and taking 250 others hostage. Israel then launched a ground offensive of Gaza, killing at least 42,000 Palestinians, the Associated Press reported, citing the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health.

Harris, attempting to put some daylight between herself and Biden, has emphasized the humanitarian conditions in Gaza on the campaign trail as she seeks to rebuild trust among the Muslim and Arab-American community, and she has called for a ceasefire.

But that may not be enough to win back Muslim voters, as well as progressive and young voters alienated by administration’s handling of the conflict, critics said.

Newsweek reached out to the Harris campaign for comment via email.

On Monday, the Michigan-based Arab American Political Action Committee declined to endorse Harris, citing her support for Israel.

“This year, we face a choice of two candidates who are harming our communities here and our families and friends in our homelands. We simply cannot give our votes to either Democrat Kamala Harris or Republican Donald Trump, who blindly support the criminal Israeli government led by far right extremists, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,” the organization wrote in a statement.

The group also declined to make an endorsement in Michigan’s U.S. Senate race between Democratic Representative Elissa Slotkin and former Representative Mike Rogers.

Wa’el Alzayat, the CEO of Emgage, which educates and mobilizes Muslim American voters, previously told Newsweek that Muslim voters could be decisive in Michigan and that he is “seeing indications” that many may come home to Democrats in the final stretch of the campaign. Emgage this month endorsed Harris.

Meanwhile, in New York, the organization Jewish Voices for Peace led a sit-in at the New York Stock Exchange before its opening on Monday over the conflict. There were 206 arrests.

Protests over U.S. support for Israel spread across the country, particularly on college campuses, in the spring, creating a headache for Biden. However, after colleges dismissed students for the summer, there have been fewer major protests, but an additional line of security fences was installed at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

If similar protests continue over the next few weeks, it could put Harris in a tricky situation as she aims to maintain support for Israel, which she views as a U.S. ally, and win back support from voters who have broken with the administration’s approach to Israel.

An Arab American Institute poll released this month suggested Trump is gaining ground among Muslim voters.

The poll showed him receiving 42 percent of the vote to Harris’ 41 percent. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an independent who has exited the race and endorsed Trump, received 6 percent of the vote. Green Party candidate Jill Stein and independent Cornel West received 5 percent and 1 percent support from Muslim voters, respectively, according to the poll.

The poll surveyed 500 Arab American voters between September 9 and 20. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.