Democratic US presidential candidate President Kamala Harris told a group chanting about the “genocide” in Gaza at her election rally in Michigan Wednesday to quiet down unless they “want Donald Trump to win.”
Before the Detroit rally, she met briefly with the founders of the Uncommitted National Movement, which led a mass vote protesting US President Joe Biden’s support for the war in Gaza during the swing state’s February primary
Anti-Israel protesters at the rally chanted, “Kamala, you can’t hide, we won’t vote for genocide.”
“I am here because I believe in democracy and everybody’s voice matters,” the vice president said to applause. “But I am speaking now.”
When the chanting continued, Harris said, “If you want Donald Trump to win, then say that. Otherwise, I’m speaking.”
The audience then chanted in support of her: “We’re not going back! We’re not going back!”
The war in Gaza strikes at the heart of parts of suburban Detroit — notably Dearborn, which has the highest per capita Arab American population of any town in the United States.
The suburb forms part of the congressional district of Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib, the first Palestinian American member of the US Congress, who has said that voters “won’t forget” Biden’s support for the “genocide.”
Tlaib was among the Democratic officials who supported the campaign to secure a large “uncommitted” vote in the Democratic primary in Michigan in February, when Biden was still the candidate. The campaign secured large vote tallies elsewhere too, including Wisconsin, Michigan’s neighbor and fellow swing state.
Ahead of the Detroit rally on Tuesday, Harris met with Abbas Alawieh and Layla Elabed, the Uncommitted National Movement’s co-founders. According to The New York Times, Harris indicated she was willing to meet with the two over their demand for an arms embargo on Israel, and introduced them to her staff.
“In this brief engagement,” Harris “reaffirmed that her campaign will continue to engage with those communities,” the US vice president’s campaign said.
According to the Times, Alawieh and Elabed had been invited to stand in a photo line welcoming Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. Alawieh was quoted in the report as saying he “felt an openness from [Vice President] Harris, as well as a listening ear from Governor Walz.”
“I appreciate her leadership, and I know the uncommitted voters want to support her, uncommitted delegates want to support her,” Alawieh said, “but our voters need to see her turn a new page on Gaza policy.”
Elabed, who said she burst into tears when introducing herself to Harris, said she “told her that I meet with my community members who are losing tens and hundreds of family members every day, and we need something from her that can guarantee that we can save their families’ lives.”
The “uncommitted” leaders have asked that a representative of their campaign and a Palestinian pediatrician be given speaking slots at the Democratic Party’s National Convention in Chicago, which begins on August 19. The campaign has secured 30 “uncommitted” delegates to the convention.
Some 100,000 Michigan residents voted “uncommitted” in the state’s February primary. Biden won the state by about 154,000 votes in the 2020 presidential election, four years after Trump won it by roughly 10,000.
Over 310,000 Michigan residents are of Middle Eastern or North African ancestry, and nearly half of the Detroit suburb of Dearborn’s roughly 110,000 residents claim Arab ancestry.
Harris’s choice of Walz for running mate Sunday signaled a renewed push to win midwestern votes, though the progressive governor’s views on the Israel-Hamas war remain unclear.
He was selected after the Democratic Party’s left flank waged a fierce campaign against the selection of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Jewish centrist with a pro-Israel record, who was considered a front-runner for Harris’s running mate.
The Harris campaign pushed back against claims — promoted, among others, by the Trump ticket — that it had caved to the leftwing effort.
“Assertions that Vice President Harris did not select Gov. Shapiro based on his religion or views on Israel are absolutely ridiculous and offensive,” it said in a statement to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, adding that Harris “has an unwavering commitment to Israel’s security.”
The US vice president has struck a different tone on the Israel-Hamas war from Biden, who withdrew from the presidential race on July 21. After meeting at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on July 25, Harris said she “will not be silent” on Palestinian suffering. The comment drew a complaint from a top Israeli official who accused her of emboldening Hamas.