The key facts
- Arab American leader Yahya Basha, who helped Trump's campaign in 2024, has donated about $500,000 to Democrat Abdul El-Sayed
- Arab American leader Yahya Basha, who helped Trump's campaign in 2024, donated about $500,000 to Democrat Abdul El-Sayed
- Trump repeatedly mocked the candidate's name, calling him 'Mohammed'; an El-Sayed victory would make him the first Muslim in the US Senate
- Arab Americans make up about 5% of Michigan's electorate — a state where the outcome of the race could determine control of the Senate
From supporting Trump to backing his critic
Arab American voters in Michigan, who gave Donald Trump notable support two years ago, are now shifting en masse toward Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, the US Senate candidate from that state, ahead of the midterm elections. The National reports this through the stories of several community figures. Yahya Basha, an 80-year-old Syrian American physician and longtime community leader north of Detroit, met with Trump in person in 2024, donated to his campaign, and arranged meetings between Arab leaders and his team. Now he has placed blue 'Abdul for US Senate' campaign signs outside his hospital and hired two guards to keep them from being stolen, and he himself has donated about $500,000 to El-Sayed's campaign — more than he has ever given to a single candidate — and has helped raise funds from Arab and Muslim voters.
What changed over two years
In 2024, Arab Americans voted for Trump primarily out of dissatisfaction with the Joe Biden administration's handling of the war in Gaza: Trump's team, according to Basha, was attentive to their concerns at the time. Since then, that support has evaporated amid the president's economic policies, his actions on Gaza, and his decision to launch a new war with Iran. Notably, Basha remains satisfied with Trump's approach to Syria — 'for stability and security, for an end to wars and a unified Syria' — but objects to his rhetoric: 'I don't want religion to become his comedy material.' Trump spent weeks mocking El-Sayed's name at rallies and online, calling him 'Mohammed,' which deeply offended many Muslims in Michigan. Bishara Bahbah, an organizer who created the group Arab Americans for Trump in 2024, renamed it Arab Americans for Peace after Trump spoke of the possibility of the US 'taking over' the Gaza Strip, and called the president's recent remarks about the candidate insulting: 'Names matter greatly to people — they are their identity.'
The stakes in Michigan and the candidates' positions
Michigan is one of the swing states where the outcome of the Senate race could determine control of the chamber, and it has the largest concentration of Arab Americans in the US: they make up about 5% of the electorate. El-Sayed, 42, if he wins, would become the first Muslim elected to the US Senate. He is building his campaign on universal healthcare, ending the state's cooperation with federal immigration police, and halting military funding for foreign wars; he calls Israel's actions in Gaza a genocide and opposes further American military aid. His rival, Trump ally Mike Rogers, emphasizes reviving the state's industry, lowering the cost of living, and public safety, and accused El-Sayed and his relatives of ties to armed groups in the Middle East — accusations El-Sayed has repeatedly denied. In recent weeks, Rogers has been distancing himself from the president on two painful issues for Michigan — tariffs on Canada and the war with Iran: in an ad, he declared that 'Canada is not our enemy' and called for quickly ending the Iranian conflict because of its impact on energy prices, without naming Trump.
A split within the community and the election context
The shift is not unanimous: longtime Republican Wasel Yousef rates Trump's support in the community as practically 'zero' and says that 'Arabs feel the Republicans have pushed them out,' yet he still intends to vote for Rogers and helped him hold meetings with the Chaldean community and Christian Arabs in Dearborn, where the Republican retains support. Trump, according to polls, is heading into the election with historically low approval ratings in the low-to-mid 30 percent range; Americans view the war with Iran extremely negatively. Comedian and activist Amer Zahr believes that Arabs voting for Trump in 2024 was not an embrace of Republicans but a punishment of Biden. According to the On Point Politics forecast, nearly 1.5 million votes have already been cast early in Michigan, and Democrats lead by roughly 15 percentage points — even though the party of the sitting president historically loses House seats in midterm elections. Trump himself said on Friday from the Oval Office: 'I think we have a chance to do well. Maybe very well.'
