Cheryl Fritze, director of News Operations for Michigan News Source, said she believes Kamala Harris’ decision to choose Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate in the 2024 presidential election will “certainly” influence Michigan’s notable population of Muslim voters leading up to the November 5 general election.
Fritze noted how Dearborn, Michigan, is home to the largest population of Arab American Muslims in the country. This population has demanded a ceasefire between Israeli and Hamas forces in Gaza and is “upset” with the Biden-Harris administration’s handling of the situation.
During the February presidential primary, Muslim voters in Michigan attributed to the approximately 13 percent of Democratic voters who voted “uncommitted” instead of voting for President Joe Biden, who has since exited the 2024 race.
“They are vocal and they’re organized. They’re talking to the media. The city council of Dearborn is Muslim. Leaders in the community are Muslim and they’re speaking loud and clear. They are pro-Hamas. They want a ceasefire now. Some of the leaders didn’t meet with Biden or Biden’s administration when they came to Dearborn to talk, so they’re upset. They want what they want now. They don’t like what appears to be pro-Israel from both Biden and Harris, and I said they may be a small percentage, but they’re very vocal,” Fritze explained on Tuesday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show.
Fritze noted, however, that Harris’ pick of Walz – who has sympathized with the pro-Palestine crowd – was intended to persuade the Muslim population in Michigan and across the nation to turn out the Democratic vote.
“The question is actually, do we think it will help sway them? I think perhaps certainly it will. Yet Kamala Harris is married to Doug Emhoff, who is Jewish, and she still stood up at podiums day after day and said she wants a ceasefire now and still spoke not much in favor of the Israelis. So I’m not sure what that would have done but yes, I think clearly that’s what she was going for,” Fritze said.
Regarding independent and undecided voters in Michigan, Fritze also said she “certainly” believes voters will be influenced by Harris’ running mate announcement, whether positively or negatively.
“We know in every state that there are folks who are on the fence. What are they waiting for? We’re 90 days out [from the election] now. What are they waiting for? Perhaps this is one of the things they were waiting for,” Fritze explained. “They were waiting to see which direction Kamala Harris would go with this VP pick. It’s fairly definitive in terms of progressive. We’ve seen over the last day or so people rerunning video of Kamala Harris saying, ‘Go woke. Everybody needs to be woke.’ There’s been pushback against that and we will see where that goes with Independents. Is this the final thing they needed to see before they make up their minds and make and make some decisions about November?”
Real Clear Politics’ 2024 RCP Electoral College Map lists the battleground state of Michigan as a toss up state for this year’s presidential election.
Former President Donald Trump won Michigan in 2016 by 0.3 percent of the vote; however, he lost the state in 2020 to Biden by 2.8 percent.
Watch the full interview:
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Michigan Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Tim Walz” by Tim Walz.
