Ali Alfarajalla, a Baghdad-born realtor in Dearborn, Michigan, normally votes for Democrats, but this election was a different story.
“If 50,000 Palestinians dead under the rubble isn’t enough to sway me from Democratic Party, I don’t know what is,” Afarajalla said.
More than half the population in Dearborn is Middle Eastern or North African. In Wayne County, which encompasses the inner-ring suburb as well as Detroit, nearly 8% of the population is Arab American — the highest percentage in the U.S.
Last November, the majority voted Democrat, except at the top of the ticket. President Trump came to Dearborn looking for votes and it worked. He won the city and took Michigan in a startling reversal for Democrats.
“The voters here were deeply unimpressed with Kamala Harris and appalled by the Biden administration,” said Diana Abouali, director of the National Arab American Museum.
Trump won 42% of the vote in Dearborn, with Harris receiving 36%. Green Party and pro-ceasefire candidate Jill Stein received 18% — more than any other place in Michigan, Detroit Public Radio reported.
Abouali says the results show how angry Dearborn was at the Biden-Harris White House, mostly over its support for Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip. The community voted for Trump, despite the president’s past action in banning travel from some majority Muslim countries and worries about his proposal to deport millions of immigrants.
“For some reason they felt that Trump was the candidate for them,” Abouali said, adding that “like most Americans, Arab Americans have very short-term memories.”
Amer Zahr, a Palestinian standup comedian, refused to vote for Harris.
When asked if he voted in anger, Zahr said, “Yeah, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. The most important thing was them losing, so that we could make our presence known.”
Now, Zahr says whatever comes next in the new Trump era is worth the risk.
“We get it…We understand anyone who has this illusion that Donald Trump is going to bring anything good for the specific interests of our community, I think, is lying to themselves,” Zahr said.
While Alfarajalla sees the risk another Trump presidency may pose, he also has hope.
“I have a house here. I have, you know, a business. I’m paying taxes. Am I going to get deported?” Alfarajalla said.
It’s a hope that the American dream he sells as a realtor is the same one his community now gets to keep.
