With the looming war on Gaza, Democrats and Republicans alike struggled to capture the Muslim vote in the presidential race.
“It was not going to matter to me whether Kamala Harris or Donald Trump went to the White House. We’re going to still have to organize,” said Linda Sarsour, senior advisor for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Action. “Now, we’re just going to have to organize even harder than we’ve ever had to organize before.”
The nonprofit CAIR’s political arm is CAIR Action, which is dedicated to enhancing civic engagement and political participation, from local to federal elections, of the Muslim community – a voter base often overlooked in United States politics.
The day after the general election, CAIR Action held a post-election town hall titled, “After the Polls: Charting Our Political Path Forward,” where they analyzed election results, debriefed the impact on the community and discussed a path forward.
“What is needed in this moment [is] to build the mechanisms to protect our communities,” said Sarsour. “You have to join an organization, you have to participate, you have to stay well informed.”
Sarsour emphasized the need for the community to engage not only on the federal level, but also at state and local elections, and to remain in constant communication with their elected officials in order to hold them accountable.
“It is in the best interest of Muslim Americans to have political power and to have a political influence. No longer will we keep saying that we don’t want to engage in politics,” said Sarsour. “If you don’t do politics, politics is going to do you, because everything about you is politicized as a Muslim American, as Palestinians, as Arab Americans, we are politicized in this country.”
According to Mo Maraqa, national data analyst for CAIR Action, in past elections, only 50% to 55% of eligible Muslims in the U.S. voted – a number he hopes will be shown to have increased when the voter demographics information becomes available in the new year. He added that starting next year in Virginia and New Jersey, CAIR Action is starting a campaign to sign up Muslims to vote by mail.
“That’s been very, very successful with the Latino community,” said Maraqa, noting that Arizona, which was once a heavily red state, is now “not only a competitive state, but the Latino community turnout rate has exploded there, and they dominate in their state. So we want to try to do that in all of our communities.”
In past elections, Muslims have traditionally leaned Democrat; however, national results based on CAIR 2024 exit poll of 1,575 verified American Muslim voters show that Green Party candidate Dr. Jill Stein received 53% of the Muslim vote, followed by President-elect Donald Trump with 21% and Vice President Kamala Harris with 20%.
Although Maraqa “never thought that that would happen,” he said it was not entirely surprising that Trump outperformed Harris “given that he actually campaigned in our community, and the Democrats refused to campaign or acknowledge our community.”
Much of the reason for the low Muslim-American turnout for Harris is due to the war on Gaza and Israel’s assault on Lebanon, pointed out Basim Elkarra, executive director of CAIR Action.
“In many swing states that cost VP Harris this election, we find that the margin that Trump won by was, in fact, less than the amount of [Muslim] voters in that state,” said Elkarra.
Stein, the only one of the three candidates to denounce the war on Gaza, won endorsements from the American Arab and Muslim Political Action Committee (AMPAC) and the Abandon Harris campaign, which encouraged Muslim voters in Michigan to withhold their votes from Harris to pressure the administration to change its policy regarding Israel.
A year after the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas, more than 43,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel’s retaliatory actions in Gaza, with another 10,000 people still unaccounted for.
A report published by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) stated that nearly 70% of verified deaths in Gaza since Oct. 7 were of women and children.
“Genocide is not a winning strategy,” said Elkarra, criticizing the Biden-Harris administration’s ongoing support for Israel and continued funding of the war on Gaza.
The community additionally criticized the Democratic party after Palestinian Americans were not granted a speaking slot at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, despite pleas from pro-Palestinian delegates.
Regardless of how the votes fell, Elkarra said the community must recognize “the political power and the strength we are building, and realize that our votes are our power,” adding that “our job at CAIR Action has just begun.”
He said they will analyze and assess this election’s successes and challenges, engage and organize the community, and build political strength and campaigns at all levels for the next election cycle.
Elkarra also highlighted their accomplishments, including developing 33 voter guides across 16 states and Latifah Simon becoming the first Muslim elected to Congress from California.
“Basim is a very optimistic person,” said Sarsour. “Even as someone from Gaza who has lost over 115 members of his family, he still feels hope. He has hope in our community. He believes in us. He thinks that our community just needs a little coordination, a little organization, and we could transform this country.”
She reminded everyone that Joe Biden is still the sitting president, and should continue to be pressured for a ceasefire until his term officially ends. Sarsour also called for solidarity between different marginalized groups.
“When we say justice as Muslims, we don’t mean just us. We are ready to not only defend and protect our communities under Donald Trump, we are here to defend and protect our neighbors, and we are going to do this together,” said Sarsour.
“I don’t choose fear,” she concluded. “I choose community all the time. I choose solidarity. I choose my neighbors, and I hope that is what you are going to do.”