Harris campaign hires Egyptian American lawyer from Michigan to lead Arab outreach
Ex-Homeland Security staffer Brenda Abdelall joins new Muslim outreach leader, as VP aims to win back voters in heavily Arab swing state angered by Biden’s support for Israel amid Gaza war
WASHINGTON (Reuters) — Kamala Harris’s campaign for US president has hired an Egyptian American lawyer and former Department of Homeland Security official to help lead outreach to Arab American voters who hold sway in some states that could help decide the November 5 election, the campaign said on Wednesday.
Brenda Abdelall would be tasked with shoring up support from a community frustrated with US support for Israel’s war in Gaza. Vice President Harris, a Democrat, has already hired Afghan American lawyer Nasrina Bargzie for outreach to Muslim Americans.
Harris is in a tight race with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. Votes from Muslim and Arab Americans could help decide the outcome in battleground states like Michigan, which has seen street protests over the Israel-Hamas war.
US President Joe Biden won a large share of the Arab and Muslim vote in 2020, but his support for Israel despite the high death toll in Gaza has frustrated many community members. They launched an “uncommitted” campaign against him in the Democratic nominating contests.
Michigan, where Harris is due to visit next week, is home to one of the largest Muslim and Arab American populations in the United States. More than 100,000 voters in the state’s primary cast their ballot “uncommitted” instead of for Biden, who later stepped aside as candidate on July 21.
Some activists say they hold Harris responsible for the Biden administration’s Israel policy and the crisis in Gaza.
@DHSgov Political Appointee Brenda Abdellal pic.twitter.com/22Bv8CohBB
— Arab America (@Arab_America) March 19, 2021
Following last week’s Democratic convention, pro-Palestinian activists said Harris had failed to demonstrate any break from the status quo.
While pro-Palestinian voices are not expected to vote for Trump and have indicated no support for the Republican, some activists have launched a campaign called “Abandon Harris” and have urged their supporters to back third-party candidates.
Abdelall, Harris’s pick for Arab American outreach, most recently served as senior counselor to the Department of Homeland Security’s secretary. She joined the agency in January 2021, shortly after Trump left office, to be chief of staff for the department’s civil rights office.
Abdelall, who grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan, previously ran a food blog and website focused on Middle Eastern cuisine. She has taught Middle Eastern cooking classes at a culinary school in northern Virginia.
The war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas’s thousands-strong October 7 attack on southern Israel, which killed some 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and saw 251 taken hostage.
Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry says more than 40,000 people in the Strip have been killed in the fighting so far. The toll, which cannot be verified, does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Israel says it has killed some 17,000 terror operatives in Gaza and another 1,000 inside Israel on October 7.
Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
