DEARBORN, Mich. – Donald Trump won Dearborn as the results show Arab-American and Muslim voters turned their back on Kamala Harris over the war in Gaza and Lebanon.
“We knew that we had a historic opportunity to secure our political power for a generation, and we decided to take advantage of it,” Dearborn resident Amer Zahra said during a press conference Wednesday.
The press conference included a group of Arab American and Muslim voters who have been vocal in their movement to block Harris' path to victory.
“We’ve shown today that we were not bluffing when we drew a red line,” Samraa Luqman said.
Trump won Dearborn with 42.48% of the vote.
Harris received 36.26 percent of the vote in Dearborn and third-party candidate Jill Stein received 18.37 percent of the vote.
In 2020, Biden won Dearborn as the Arab American community historically leans Democrat.
However, the community has been vocal throughout the 2024 campaign season about their disapproval of the Biden-Harris administration’s handling of the violence in the Middle East.
The speakers at the press conference said they are not celebrating a Trump victory; rather, they are proud of their coming together to reject Harris.
“If there’s a 99 percent chance that Donald Trump will keep the genocide going, that’s still better than the 100 percent chance that the democrats are keeping it going,” Zahr said.
At a watch party in Dearborn Tuesday night, voters expressed a similar sentiment.
“My vote was a protest vote,” said Hassan Chami, who voted for Stein.