“The Arab-American community, they’re overwhelmingly supporting him,” said Wayne County Commissioner Sam Baydoun, who is backing Sanders. “This district is full of immigrants. They still care about what happens back home. And he talked about having an even-handed approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. That’s very important to a lot of people.”
Last week, Sanders won the endorsement of the Dearborn-based Arab-American News. The newspaper wrote that his proposals “most closely align with the interests of the community,” citing his health care policy, climate change plan, and bill to end the United States’ involvement in the war in Yemen. They praised him for defending Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, the first Muslim women elected to Congress who have endorsed his campaign, from attacks.
„That will likely net us thousands of votes,“ said Bill Neidhardt, a Sanders aide sent to Michigan, of the paper’s endorsement. „I view it as a more important endorsement than if the Detroit Free Press came out for us tomorrow.“
Sanders has also received praise from Muslim leaders for being the only top presidential candidate to attend the Islamic Society of North America’s convention last year, and for hiring the first Muslim presidential campaign manager in history.
Sanders’ team sent Tlaib and Abdul El-Sayed, who ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2018, to campaign for him in mosques in the state Friday. The team is also sharing a new video with Arab-American voters in the state, which features state Rep. Abdullah Hammoud applauding Sanders’ “Not Me, Us” motto and forecasting that „the Arab-American population and the Muslim American population are going to be that swing vote that deliver strong results“ in Michigan.
“We have a special multi-layered program communicating directly with the community in different languages,” said Chuck Rocha, a senior adviser to Sanders, of the campaign’s outreach to Muslim and Arab-American voters. “This includes phone calls, texting, digital and newspaper ads, along with special paid messaging directly from Rashida Tlaib.”
Source: politico.com
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