President Joe Biden’s decision not to run for reelection presented Democrats with a unique opportunity to reset and win back some constituencies that the party was struggling with — perhaps most notably Arab Americans.
“When President Biden stepped down, it provided a moment of hope,” Abdullah Hammoud, the mayor of Dearborn, Michigan, told NOTUS. “What I’ve been telling folks is that whether that hope blossoms or diminishes really falls on the vice president.”
While Harris has an opportunity for a fresh start with some constituencies, it’s unclear how Arab Americans will view the vice president. Bishara Bahbah, the chair of Arab Americans for Trump, a group trying to win over that community for former President Donald Trump, told NOTUS he doesn’t see Harris making much headway with those voters.
“It is not like she completely came out with no connections to the current Biden administration,” Bahbah said. “From our perspective, as Republicans, really changing the name on the door while the inhabitants are still the same does not change much.”
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Bahbah was adamant that Harris is in a “honeymoon period” that would soon end, given Israel’s recent bombings in Lebanon and Iran that have enraged many in the Arab American community. He suggested that Arab Americans would connect Harris to the current administration’s policies — given that, after all, she is the vice president.
But Bahbah has his campaign work cut out for him in convincing the Arab American community that Trump would somehow be better. Some people in Bahbah’s coalition have even recently left the Arab Americans for Trump group because they don’t see the former president ever adopting their positions on a permanent ceasefire or arms embargo for Israel.
One of those people who quit, who requested anonymity to discuss the behind-the-scenes workings of the coalition, told NOTUS that Trump is “not on our side.”
“We’re not going to be helping Trump anytime soon because of his nomination of JD Vance,” this person said, adding that Trump’s vice presidential pick has said he supports Israel unequivocally because of his Christian beliefs.
Another source who had joined Bahbah’s coalition said they left because they felt Trump’s broad calls for peace on Truth Social weren’t substantial enough. They were also turned off by his use of “Palestinian” as an insult against Biden during the June presidential debate.
The source said supporting Harris was within the realm of possibility, though Israel’s continued military actions in Gaza have been giving them pause.
“If you asked me yesterday, I’d say for sure, I will vote for her because she looks like she’s distancing herself from Biden’s policy vis-à-vis Gaza war,” this source said.
The Harris campaign did not respond to a request for comment about its efforts to reach out to Arab American and Muslim leaders.
But more than a dozen leaders of Arab American organizations told NOTUS that the Harris campaign hadn’t reached out to them yet.
Osama Siblani, the publisher of The Arab American News who has participated in talks with both Biden and Trump’s campaigns, told NOTUS the closest contact he’s had with Harris was on Monday through a White House senior adviser, who emphasized Biden and Harris’ commitment to negotiate a ceasefire in the coming weeks.
Harris will be in Detroit for a rally next week, and Siblani predicted her campaign will “most certainly” arrange a meeting with him and other Arab American leaders in Michigan.
“We’ve been listening to her speaking. We’re in a listening mode right now,” he said of Harris. “But the time will come very quickly, and it’s very soon where we are going to have to talk, and probably she has to listen.”
A poll conducted by the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee showed Harris commanding a larger share of support from Arab American respondents compared to Trump: 28% to 2%. But interestingly, both candidates were bested by third party candidate Jill Stein, who had 45%.
A previous poll conducted in May, however, showed Biden with only 7%.
In other words, Harris has already made headway, but she still has voter problems.
“We are uncommitted to a certain extent,” Siblani said. “Still, some Democrats in our community are trying to line up with Harris. But I can tell you right now that we do not have what it takes to sell Harris to our community.”
Still, Bahbah shrugged off some of the recent departures from his group as people who wanted to “get attention to be able to speak to the press,” and he said the number of people in Arab Americans for Trump had been growing, though he wouldn’t put any exact numbers on it.
“I’m not the LDS church bent on converting people. What I want people to do is vote for Trump,” he said.
Bahbah did say he’d recruited some members of the Abandon Biden Campaign, but a media representative for that group, Hudhayfah Ahmad, cast doubt on the claim.
He said that, while the Abandon Biden Campaign “categorically rejects any attempt to frame our position as one where we lean towards Harris or the Democrats in general,” the group would never stump for Trump.
“Our message has been: ‘Vote your conscience,’” Ahmad said. “And I will unequivocally say, anyone who votes for Trump does not have a conscience.”
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Tinashe Chingarande is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.
Clarification: This piece has been updated to clarify that the Abandon Biden Campaign is not pushing for Harris or Democrats.
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