Trump invites Muslim leaders onstage, as he and Harris woo Michigan voters troubled by Gaza
In key state where polls give VP a razor-thin edge, US presidential candidates court Muslim voters, vow to end Gaza war; Michelle Obama makes impassioned speech at Democratic rally
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump appealed to Muslim voters in Michigan on Saturday as Michelle Obama made an impassioned plea on behalf of Democratic candidate Kamala Harris at the party’s rally in the battleground state.
Harris and Trump are battling for Michigan voters that include an Arab American and Muslim population concerned about the war in Gaza, ongoing since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 massacre in southern Israel, and union workers worried about how electric vehicles could reshape the United States auto industry, which is headquartered in Detroit, the state’s largest city.
Election Day is November 5 but early voting was underway in Michigan and many other states.
Speaking at a rally outside Detroit, Trump said he had just met with a group of local imams, arguing that he deserved the support of Muslim voters because he would end conflicts and bring peace to the Middle East.
“That’s all they want,” Trump said in the Detroit suburb of Novi, also pledging to auto workers at the rally that he would reverse economic decline in the Detroit area and nationwide.
Trump fully backs Israel but has not said how he would end the conflict there.
Even so, Trump appears to be gaining support from some Muslim Americans upset with US President Joe Biden’s and Harris’s support of Israel, and despite Trump banning immigration from some Muslim-majority countries in his first term as president.
Trump invited “all of my friends to come up [on stage] from the Arab and Muslim part of Michigan” and asked the crowd to “give them a big hand because they’re going to vote for us and help us win.”
Imam Belal Alzuhairi of the Islamic Center of Detroit joined Trump on stage, saying, “We as Muslims stand with President Trump because he promises peace. He promises peace not war… He promised to end war in the Middle East and Ukraine.”
With some 8.4 million registered voters and 15 electoral college votes of the 270 needed to win, Michigan is one of seven competitive US states that will decide the election. It is part of the “Blue Wall” that is considered the Democrats’ best chance of electing Harris, along with Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Obama takes the stage
In the southern Michigan city of Kalamazoo, about 210 kilometers (130 miles) away, Harris drew contrasts between her and Trump on issues such as abortion rights, taxes and healthcare.
But first Obama, the popular wife of former US president Barack Obama, fired up the crowd by drawing distinctions between the two candidates on personal character and qualifications, saying there was a double standard in how Trump and Harris were being treated.
“I hope you’ll forgive me that I’m a little frustrated that some of us are choosing to ignore Trump’s gross incompetence while asking Kamala to dazzle us at every turn,” the former first lady said, urging any undecided voters to “snap out of whatever fog they’re in.”
Obama also addressed women’s health at length, saying Trump has failed to demonstrate an understanding of its complexity and that his vows to rescind the Affordable Care Act passed during her husband’s presidency would affect the “entirety of women’s health, all of it.”
“We as women will become collateral damage to your rage,” she said, later introducing Harris to an animated crowd.
Harris was several minutes into an upbeat address when she was interrupted by a demonstrator who repeatedly yelled, “No more Gaza war.”
After Harris supporters shouted down the interruption, she responded, “On the topic of Gaza, we must end that war,” then picked up where she left off, asking voters to “turn the page on the fear and the divisiveness.”
“Over the last eight years, Donald Trump has become more confused, more unstable and more angry, and it is clear he has become increasingly unhinged. But the last time, at least there were people who could control him, but notice they’re not with him this time,” Harris said.
Ahead of the rally, Harris met with women medical providers in Portage, Michigan, where she said the country was in a healthcare crisis following the 2022 ruling by the US Supreme Court that overturned Roe v. Wade, which had guaranteed a women’s right to abortion nationwide.
Harris heard from six women medical providers who described being inundated by patients from other regions due to a lack of reproductive healthcare in their areas since Roe was overturned.
After leaving Michigan, Trump traveled to Pennsylvania, where he tried to reel in young voters with a rally on the campus of Penn State University, at one point bringing the school’s wrestling team on stage with him.
“We have to finish it off with a big victory on November 5,” he said.
Polls show a tight race
Harris is leading Trump nationally by a marginal 46 percent to 43%, a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll showed. In Michigan, Harris leads by even less – 47.6% to 47.1%, according to opinion poll aggregator FiveThirtyEight.
Since the 2020 election, Michigan has instituted early in-person voting for the first time and begun permitting jurisdictions with more than 5,000 people to begin processing and tabulating mail ballots eight days before the November 5 Election Day.
So far, 19.5% of registered voters in Michigan, or nearly 1.42 million people, have voted, Michigan’s State Department said on Friday. Only 10,900 were in-person early votes, while the rest were returned absentee ballots.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.