Vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz appealed to a group of Democratic Muslim voters Thursday night as the Harris campaign seeks to woo a group of voters threatened by many defections over the handling of the Biden administration. deterioration of the condition in the Middle East.
A virtual event organized by Emgage Action confirmed Harris last weekIt still represented the most direct pitch to conflicted Muslim and Arab voters from Harris or Walz.
The appearance coincided with the launch of a new group for Harris-Walz, Arab Americans, and came after the vice president’s top national security adviser. met with Arab and Muslim community leaders.
Separately, administration officials held a series of meetings with Lebanese American leaders in Washington about the evacuation of at least one US citizen from southern Lebanon. an American was killed During Israel’s military campaign there this week.
Some speakers on the call with Walz on Thursday made it clear that their support for Harris came with reservations, with one prominent Muslim Democrat saying they would be doing “the worst thing” by voting for Harris.
Walz, the governor of Minnesota, is generally well-regarded among his state’s large Muslim population, and even when there is disagreement, the Harris-Walz administration has vowed to always have an open door.
“As-Salam-alaykum,” Walz said in the appeal, using the Arabic greeting before turning the minds of many Arab and Muslim voters to war.
“I know the pain of this community is deep. We are heartbroken,” he said of Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza and recent attacks on Lebanon. “This war must end and it must end now. The vice president works every day to ensure this. “To ensure Israel’s safety, the hostages are at home, the suffering in Gaza is now over, and the Palestinian people realize their right to dignity, freedom and self-determination.”
Walz then warned against former President Donald Trump’s Muslim ban, promising that the Harris-Walz administration would fight Islamophobia and “make a commitment that Muslims will engage and serve alongside this administration.”
Arab and Muslim voters have a large majority voted for the Democrats in the last election. But President Joe Biden’s support for Israel — and the lack of information and political concessions from the Harris campaign — has led many Muslim and Arab voters to say they’re not sure they can back Harris in November.
Low voter turnout or demographic support can be effective in battleground states with large Muslim and Arab populations. especially MichiganIt’s seen as a must-win for Harris.
Party officials at the Democratic National Convention in August refused the request Anti-war elected representatives, activists smoke for speaking to a Palestinian American about the suffering in Gaza. Some Muslim activists and elected officials said they were disappointed to hear so little from the Harris campaign since then.
Some disaffected Muslim and Arab voters flocked during the 2024 campaign third party candidates Like Jill Stein and Cornel West, both ran Muslim candidates and courted pro-Palestinian voters. Others say they will stay at home on election day. Fewer people supported Trump to punish Democrats, including the mayor of Hamtramck, the first US city to elect an all-Muslim government.
“We understand that some Muslim voters, any voter, may feel a moral dilemma about voting [Harris]. i do My family does this,” said Wael Alzayat, CEO of Emgage Action. “But voting for a third-party candidate is the path to victory for Donald Trump.”
Mohamed Gula, Emgage’s national organizing director, said he understood some on the call might be offended by the group’s decision to support Harris.
“When we made the decision, we knew it wasn’t going to be a popular decision,” he said. “There were days when we were questioned [it] — and even to this day, we’re still fighting it, with every conversation we have, every text, every door, every call, everything.”
But all the speakers, despite their conflicted feelings, said Trump would be worse for the Palestinians and all other issues Democrats care about.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress, drew a distinction between Harris and Biden that the vice president is reluctant to draw.
“Kamala Harris is not the president of the United States. He can’t make decisions for President Biden,” he said, noting his limited powers under the Constitution.
Harris has made some comments more sympathetic to the Palestinian cause than Biden, but has so far refused to show any distance from him on politics.
“We have to convince our friends and relatives that the best chance for peace is with Harris-Walz,” Ellison said, adding that Harris was a good listener who was “able to change his mind.”
“We have to do the least bad or the best for our community,” Ellison concluded.
Former Michigan Democratic Rep. Andy Levin — in what may be the first time in his career that he’s held a public event during the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah — offered to give Harris his cell phone number to anyone who needed convincing to vote. .
“We can’t assume he’s going to be great at it,” he said of Harris’ Middle East policy. “So we’re going to have to fight for justice for Palestine, but if we fight with Kamala Harris and Tim Waltz in the White House, we have a solid foundation to stand on, and if we have Donald, we’re just going to be swamped. Trump [wins].”
Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., a progressive who has criticized the Biden White House’s stance on Israel, drew more attention in his remarks.
“I have no doubt that Donald Trump will give carte blanche [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu,” Khanna said. “The Palestinian people will absolutely be an afterthought.”