Photo credit, Anadolu via Getty Images
Samraa Luqman, a lifelong Democrat, proudly voted for the re-election of Donald Trump as President of the United States. A single issue motivated his choice at the time, just as it will again in next week's midterm elections.
“It’s Gaza or nothing,” this American of Yemeni origin told BBC News World Service’s “The Global Story.” “If you don't take a favorable position on Gaza, on Israel, on Palestine, we don't need you in power and we don't need to vote for you – regardless of your political affiliation. »
Outraged by American support for Israel, traditionally Democratic Party voters like Luqman helped lead the Republican Party to victory in the key swing state of Michigan in 2024.
Similar concerns are mobilizing voters on both sides today, in one of the most hotly contested electoral races on the November ballot.
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The bitter fight for Michigan's vacant Senate seat will determine which party controls Congress for the rest of Trump's term. Democrats must keep it. The Republicans must win it. However, as election day approaches, the situation seems undecided.
On one side is Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, a doctor who would become the country's first Muslim senator if elected on November 3. Having repeatedly described the military operation carried out by Israel in Gaza following the October 7, 2023 attacks by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups as “genocide” – an accusation that Israel firmly rejects – he narrowly defeated a pro-Israeli Democrat in the primaries.
El-Sayed's Republican opponent, Mike Rogers, is a former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent who served in the House of Representatives for 14 years. Supported by Trump, Rogers opposes cutting U.S. military aid to Israel, citing national security reasons.
While U.S. midterm elections typically revolve around domestic issues, such as the economy and the cost of living, the war in Gaza has become a litmus test for Michigan voters.
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Both candidates have emphasized using U.S. taxpayer dollars to finance this conflict, with U.S. military aid expected to reach about $21 billion by September 2025, according to Brown University's Costs of War project.
Michigan has the highest percentage of Arab Americans in the United States.
It is also home to a large population of Jewish voters, who have historically been strong supporters of Israel. These two groups have historically been a pillar of the Democrats.
But in 2024, frustrated with Democrats' foreign policy in the Middle East, some Arab and Muslim voters organized a campaign called "Uncommitted."
More than 100,000 of them abstained from voting in the primaries, to demonstrate their dissatisfaction with then-President Joe Biden's "unwavering" support for Israel.
Photo credit, AFP via Getty Images
When the presidential bid went to Kamala Harris and her promises of continuity, voters like Luqman felt betrayed.
“I was so angry because I've always been a Democrat my whole life, and it wasn't just because they didn't say the word 'ceasefire' or they didn't try to stop the genocide. It was precisely because they stood their ground and said, 'We didn't do anything wrong. We're going to continue with our policies,'" she explains.
In response, Luqman joined the wave of Muslim voters supporting Trump. “I didn’t just vote: I campaigned for him,” she explains.
But although she now considers herself a Republican, Luqman enthusiastically supports El-Sayed for Senate.
Photo credit, Bloomberg via Getty Images
Photo credit, Getty Images
Amer Zahar, another Arab-American voter, believes it took the wake-up call of the 2024 elections for the Democratic Party to support a pro-Palestinian candidate like El-Sayed.
“The Democratic Party doesn’t always speak to me, and I think it doesn’t always speak to our community,” Zahar says.
“We had to bring about a revolution within the Democratic Party, and that is what we did in 2024… So, after this revolution and the victory of candidates favorable to the Palestinian cause, we feel much more at home within this party. »
But while the party's shifts in position may have addressed the concerns of many Arab American voters, another group is now expressing fears of being left behind.
Some question El-Sayed's ability to protect the Jewish community in times of crisis. After a violent attack on the Temple Israel synagogue in March, he declared: “People who suffer make others suffer. » The attacker had lost relatives during an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon.
El-Sayed later apologized, saying he was not trying to justify the attack. But this did not entirely dissipate tensions.
“It was definitely a punch in the gut,” said Aaron Starr, president of the Michigan Board of Rabbis, who publicly announced he would not vote for El-Sayed.
“The majority of our community voted Democratic and now feel that the words and actions of some members of the Democratic Party – not everyone, but some candidates within the Democratic Party – are putting our safety at risk,” he told The Global Story.
Like some Muslim Democrats in Michigan in 2024, some longtime Jewish Democrats are now voting for the Republican candidate — or abstaining from voting altogether.
“I'm a Democrat, but first and foremost I have to trust that the person I'm voting for respects me, my political views and my existence,” says Jordan Acker, an attorney and member of the University of Michigan Board of Trustees.
Acker has known El-Sayed for 20 years. They attended university together. But Acker isn't sure he'll vote for his former classmate.
“In Abdul's worldview, it seems that Jews are acceptable as individuals, but not as a people. And for me, it’s extremely disturbing,” he adds.
For his part, Rogers is trying to appeal to Jewish voters in the state by presenting himself as a staunch defender of Israel. He also called El-Sayed an “anti-Semite.”
His detractors accuse Rogers of stoking Islamophobia by attempting to portray his opponent as a sympathizer of Islamic extremism. Both Rogers and Trump have accused El-Sayed, whose family emigrated from Egypt, of having ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. El-Sayed has repeatedly dissociated himself from this group and denied any connection with it.
For a significant part of the electorate, this heated senatorial campaign has fueled not only partisan divisions, but also racial and ethnic tensions. But David Freund, an El-Sayed supporter and Jewish voter, isn't overly concerned about the long-term effects.
“The security of all minorities requires the defense of all minorities,” he says. “Jewish security will not be preserved as a separate category called 'Jewish security.' It is part of the broader question of everyone's democratic rights. »
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