Although Michigan ultimately didn’t decide the election, Arab Americans did back now-President Donald Trump in significantly higher numbers than 2020, and the election revealed a growing chasm between the community and the party. Michigan is likely to remain a crucial swing state, and Democrats cannot afford to permanently lose support from Arab American voters. Party leaders must therefore take steps to regain the community’s support and lay a firm foundation for 2028.

For a few months in late 2024, it seemed possible that Michigan could single-handedly cost Democrats the presidency as a significant portion of the state’s large Arab American population—furious over the Biden administration’s policy toward Gaza—turned its back on the Democratic Party.

For a few months in late 2024, it seemed possible that Michigan could single-handedly cost Democrats the presidency as a significant portion of the state’s large Arab American population—furious over the Biden administration’s policy toward Gaza—turned its back on the Democratic Party.

Although Michigan ultimately didn’t decide the election, Arab Americans did back now-President Donald Trump in significantly higher numbers than 2020, and the election revealed a growing chasm between the community and the party. Michigan is likely to remain a crucial swing state, and Democrats cannot afford to permanently lose support from Arab American voters. Party leaders must therefore take steps to regain the community’s support and lay a firm foundation for 2028.

Since Trump’s inauguration—and especially since his shock announcement in early February that the United States would “take over the Gaza Strip”—political commentators and community leaders have debated the wisdom of Arab American support for Trump as well as the decision of many voters to sit out the election entirely.

I share the view that support by members of my community for Trump or third-party candidates was shor