Democratic Representative Debbie Dingell said Michigan's Muslim voters sent Kamala Harris and her party a "message" after Donald Trump and Green Party candidate Jill Stein together took nearly 70 percent of the vote in Dearborn, where 55 percent of the residents are of Middle Eastern descent.
Trump won 47 percent of the Dearborn vote, while Harris got 28 percent and Stein had 22 percent, according to preliminary totals.
Trump also made gains in Hamtramck, Michigan, fueled by anger in the Arab American and Muslim communities over deaths in Gaza, Lebanon and Yemen. These two cities, with the highest percentage of Arab Americans in the United States, were specifically targeted by Trump and his campaign. The former president visited both areas in recent weeks.
Joe Biden won Dearborn by a 3-to-1 margin in 2020, but this year Muslim voters in Metro Detroit had clearly soured on the Biden-Harris administration's handling of the Israel-Hamas war.
In contrast to Harris, Democratic Representative Rashida Tlaib, a progressive Palestinian American, secured 62 percent of the vote in Dearborn and was handily reelected to a fourth term on Election Day.
Newsweek emailed the Trump, Harris and Stein campaigns for comment on Tuesday afternoon.
In an interview Wednesday morning with CNN's Erin Burnett, Dingell was asked about the results in Dearborn.
"I think that the community is trying to send a message. What is going on in the Mideast is tearing people apart, and it's particularly hard in Michigan. People are raw and hurting on both sides," the congresswoman said.
"Quite frankly, I get killed by both sides. I get protested, I get threats, and I listen to them. A lot of people are unwilling to put their selves out there and listen and understand what their hurt is and what they're saying."
Dingell continued, "Quite frankly, I think the fear of people on all sides, being willing to talk to them, is what results in Jill Stein getting support. People are angry, they've lost family members. I feel like the war in the Mideast has come to Michigan, and even people inside the Democratic Party are at each other's throats. It's not good."
Israel invaded Gaza after Hamas' October 7, 2023, attack that killed about 1,200 people, and last month it launched an invasion of southern Lebanon to suppress Hezbollah, the militant group that has continually launched rockets into Israeli territory. At least 43,000 people have died in Gaza, according to Gaza's Ministry of Health which does not distinguish in its death toll between combatants and civilians.
Michigan has more than 200,000 Muslim voters, along with 300,000 with Middle Eastern or North African ancestry. Biden won there in 2020 by 154,000 votes, while Trump carried the state with a victory margin of just 10,700—or 0.23 percent—in 2016.
This year, Trump defeated Harris in Michigan. The Associated Press called the race at 12:54 p.m. on Wednesday. With 98 percent of Michigan's estimated votes tallied, Trump's unofficial count stands at 49 percent, compared with Harris' 48.3 percent.
Dingell also spoke candidly about the "soul-searching" needed within the Democratic Party after Trump's resounding win.
"I'm going to be very blunt. As Democrats, we've got to do some soul-searching. We're getting the message from a lot of people that we're not hearing them. I hope we'll take the time to do the soul-0searching that we have to do," Dingell told Burnett.
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