In the wake of Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 election, residents of Dearborn, Michigan, are voicing their regret and frustration, with many expressing feelings of being misled.
Dearborn is home to one of the largest concentrations of Arab Americans in the nation, with nearly half of its 110,000 residents being of Arab descent. The city has traditionally been a Democratic stronghold, but this year that all changed.
Trump broke the GOP losing streak in the city, winning 47 percent of the vote to Kamala Harris’ 28 percent, according to unofficial results from the city clerk, reported by NBC. That means Harris received less than half of the Dearborn voters Joe Biden received in 2020.
Meanwhile, Green Party candidate Jill Stein, who chose a Muslim American running mate and put Israel’s war with Hamas at the center of her campaign, won 22 percent of the vote, according to a projection from NBC.
After the shocking election result, Arab American voters are reeling. But they are also frustrated by the Democrats’ unwavering support for the Israelis in the latest war between Israel and Hamas.
Newsweek has contacted the Trump transition team and the Harris campaign for comment via email.
“All she had to do was stop the war in Lebanon and Gaza and she would receive everyone’s votes here,” Dearborn Councilmember Mustapha Hammoud told The Associated Press.
Evan Vucci/AP
“When I think of Democrats, I don’t think of people like Joe Biden and Kamala Harris,” Layla Elabed, a leader in Dearborn’s anti-war movement and the sister of Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib, told Slate. “You can’t claim to represent the values of your base and then ignore them. You’re not going to win—and that’s exactly what happened.”
In an interview with Politico, Michael Sareini, Dearborn city council president, added that many Arab American residents in Dearborn “feel like they’ve been redeemed.”
“They wanted to send a message and they did. This stance on endless wars and killing of innocent women and children has got to end,” he said.
The Biden-Harris administration has remained a staunch ally of Israel since the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas, which killed 1,200 Israelis and took over 200 hostages. Following the attack, Israel launched airstrikes on Gaza, which have killed more than 43,000 people. Since then, the U.S. has continued to send weapons to Israel—something that has greatly angered Arab Americans.
Additionally, Harris told CNN in an interview in August that she would not approach the Israel-Hamas war differently to her boss.
“Let me be very clear, I’m unequivocal and unwavering in my commitment to Israel’s defense and its ability to defend itself, and that’s not going to change,” Harris said. She also refused to host a Palestinian American onstage at the Democratic National Convention.
“We were asking Democratic leadership to empower us,” Abbas Alawieh, a Lebanese American from Dearborn, and one-time chief of staff to Rep. Cori Bush, said. “They flat-out said, ‘No thanks. We’re good without you.’ I’d hoped that, whatever calculus they were making, there were some 101,000 Liz Cheney voters out there somewhere they were catering to. It turns out those voters don’t exist,” he added, referencing the daughter of former Republican Vice President Dick Cheney, who was the mastermind behind the war in Iraq. Liz Cheney endorsed Harris in this election.
But while Arab Americans are feeling anger at the Democrats, they are also not necessarily convinced by Trump.
“They didn’t vote for Trump because they believe Trump is the best candidate,” Osama Siblani, publisher of The Arab American News, told Politico. “No, they voted for Trump because they want to punish the Democrats and Harris.”
“It’s clear as day that he’s playing us,” Alawieh added of Trump. “I think he’s going to target us. That’s what he’s going to do. He’s going to target our families, and it’s going to hurt. So, I think we’re about to find out.”
