Detroit voters have the power to shape presidential elections. “The threat is indifference”

Wayne County has the largest concentration of Arab Americans nationally, and US support for Israel is causing some to abandon Harris. Trump visited Dearborn Friday with a promise to end the war in Gaza.

Trump won more votes in Dearborn in 2020 than in Detroit. His campaign spent months heating to Arab American and Muslim leaders in suburban Detroit.

Imam Mika’il Steward Saadiq is a Detroit Muslim leader who endorsed Harris after he voted absent rather than endorsing Biden in the primary. Saadiq said some voters are motivated to punish the Biden-Harris administration in the wake of unimaginable bloodshed.

“When people become inconsolable and traumatized in their grief, there’s not much you can say,” Saadiq said. “It is very serious. We know it will be a very close race. You cannot lay the blame for an undesirable outcome at the feet of the Arab-American and Muslim community.”

Saadiq said there was a desperate need for a ceasefire, but Trump could not be trusted to help Muslims.

“I will not be complicit in creating a path for a Trump victory,” he said. “Most people in the Muslim community in Southeast Michigan remember the Trump presidency. We remember going to airports in protest (against Trump’s travel ban on Muslim-majority countries), we remember the children in cages.”

Santiago-Romero said the election reminded her of Trump’s surprise 2016 victory in Michigan. She advocated for Harris to visit southwest Detroit, home to large numbers of Hispanic and Latino immigrants. At a rally in October, Santiago-Romero said she heard community members say they won’t vote because the Harris campaign doesn’t represent their interests.

“I’m sad to say that it seems to me that the Democrats are no longer listening to us,” she said. “At the end of the day, this is their race to lose.”

Steen, the DPSCD candidate and Harris supporter, said Gen Z voters connected to Trump’s media presence on platforms popular with young people, especially men.

“A lot of young people are interested in Trump because of his entertainment factor and are not aware of his policies themselves,” Steen said. “It’s on podcasts that get more views than mainstream media.”

Steen said some young voters are first-generation voters, with parents or grandparents who may not have made voting a priority. He remembers childhood visits to the polls with his mother and grandmother, followed by a family breakfast.

He said getting young people comfortable with the voting process is key to boosting engagement. He organizes “practice at the polls” events through his nonprofit, the Steen Foundation, to familiarize people with filling out ballots and registering to vote.