American Muslims and the 2024 election

Muslims in the United States likely will shock Democrats this election cycle as they abandon a party that largely has taken them for granted for decades. This is evidenced in a stunning report from the crucial swing state of Michigan.

Amer Ghalib, the Muslim Democratic mayor of Hamtramck, Mich., announced he will vote for former President Donald Trump next month. In response, Trump told Breitbart News that he welcomed the endorsement and said he is very open to visiting Hamtramck and meeting with the Arab Americans who are unhappy with the current Democratic administration. In his endorsement, Ghalib said that, although he disagrees with the former president on various issues, Trump “is a man of principles” and “the right choice for this critical time.”

Ghalib was born and raised in Yemen—an Arab Muslim country—and immigrated legally to the United States when he was 17. He has now become the mayor of a city with more than 60 percent Muslims, comprising immigrants from many Muslim countries, particularly from Yemen and Bangladesh. Importantly, Hamtramck is now the first city in the United States with an all-Muslim government, which highlights the huge significance of his endorsement. Equally important, his city is near Dearborn, which has the largest per capita Muslim population in the United States.

Ghalib’s support of Trump reveals a great deal about American Muslims and their relationship with the Democratic Party. And his endorsement is important for at least two reasons.

First, it reflects a growing dissatisfaction between American Muslims and the Democratic Party’s agenda. Of course, the handling of the Gaza war by the Biden administration may be one recent reason for such dissatisfaction, but it cannot be the only or even the main one because a Republican administration would have arguably done even more for Israel.

Simply put, American Muslims are walking away from the Democratic Party because they are religiously, culturally, and socially conservative, and the radical left agenda embraced by Democrats is pushing them away. Muslims want to protect their children against indoctrination through the LGBTQ agenda and defend their families against open-border policies adopted by Democrats.

Ghalib’s endorsement didn’t appear in a vacuum. He and his fellow elected Muslim officials were opposed to the flying of an LGBTQ pride flag on a city flagpole. Last year, a crowd of hundreds of Muslims gathered between Hamtramck and Dearborn to demonstrate against LGBTQ books taught in public schools. Muslims denounced the books, saying they were too explicit for their children. “Stop brainwash [sic] our kids,” one sign declared. “Quit grooming students, you sexually perverted animals,” read another.

Evidently, to protect their children and families, American Muslims are reconsidering their involvement with a political party that adopts ideologies and policies that clearly affect their families.

Second, Ghalib’s endorsement of Trump doesn’t appear as an exception but rather a reflection of many Muslims in his city of around 30,000 and its neighboring towns. “I talked to President Trump about, you know, some statistics here in Wayne County and how it used to be a stronghold for the Democrats, and we always used to vote Democrat,” he told Breitbart News. “This is not the case anymore here.”

Arguably, Ghalib wouldn’t have come out with a public endorsement of Trump if it is not reflective of and backed by significant momentum in the streets among his Muslim constituency. Ghalib’s views reflect a significant shift among Muslims in his city and county. Clearly, the inevitable clash between Muslims and the Democratic Party’s agenda has been developing for years, and Ghalib’s endorsement of Trump is just more evidence.

What does Ghalib’s endorsement suggest about Michigan in this election cycle? Muslim Michiganders might be highly determinative of how the presidential election turns out.

Vice President Kamala Harris needs to win the swing state of Michigan or her path to the presidency gets significantly more difficult. Without Muslim momentum, translated in real votes, Harris can hardly grab the state if she loses appeal among minorities in the larger metro area of Dearborn and Detroit. This highlights the significance of Ghalib’s endorsement, especially as Muslims have shown frustration in Michigan’s Democratic primary, when thousands of them voted “uncommitted.” This is why Harris met with Arab American leaders in Flint on Oct. 4 in an attempt to win back Muslim votes. However, some Arab Muslim leaders declined her invitation to meet with her.

For decades, the Democratic Party had taken the Muslim vote for granted. This election cycle might bring a shock to the left, as Muslims are ready to walk away from a party whose policies they deem harmful to their children and families.