Democrats deployed New Jersey’s George Helmy, the lone Arab-American in the United States Senate, to the battleground state of Michigan today to stump for Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
“I strongly believe it will be the Arab community and the first time voters that gets Vice President Harris and Governor Walz over the finish line in this election,” said Helmy.
Polls show the race between Harris and Republican Donald Trump for Michigan’s fifteen electoral votes to be within the margin of error. Michigan has about 200,000 Arab-American voters in a state that Trump won by 10,000 votes in 2016 and Biden by 150,000 four years ago.
“I was proud to be on the ground today in Michigan to meet with the folks driving the Harris-Walz campaign in the battleground state of Michigan,” Helmy said. “As the only sitting Arab-American Senator, I had the pleasure of meeting with folks in my community to hear their concerns about our futures.”
Helmy met with canvassers and phone bank volunteers at the Harris/Walz campaign headquarters in Detroit, helped launch a student canvasser operation at Wayne State University, and then went to the Dearborn Harris/Walz office.
Once a Democratic stronghold, Dearborn could be a problem for Harris. The mayor, a Democrat, refused to endorse Harris, and two other mayors from adjacent towns with large Muslim populations are backing Trump.
“Having just returned from Jordan to gain knowledge of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon, I conveyed my trust and faith in a Harris-Walz Administration to advance the needs of our people,” Helmy stated. “I was able to connect with young voters at Wayne University, many of whom will be voting for the first time in this election. We discussed the Harris-Walz vision for the future and how it aligns with their own beliefs.”
Gov. Phil Murphy appointed Helmy to the Senate in August to replace Bob Menendez, a former Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman who was convicted on federal bribery charges in July and resigned a month later.