Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI) warned on Sunday that President Joe Biden has “a lot that has to be done” to win back Muslim voters in 2024 as he sheds Arab American support over his handling of Israel’s war in Gaza.
Dingell made the comments after being asked during an appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press what Biden could do to halt his plummeting numbers among Arab voters. The Michigan congresswoman noted that she lived in the city of Dearborn, which has the largest Arab American population of any city in the United States, for 40 years.
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“So there’s a lot that has to be done, and this is a very serious issue,” Dingell told the network. “I know this community. They are hurting. All of us in this country need to understand what’s happening in Gaza right now.”
WATCH: Voters in Michigan — which has a large Muslim population — have called on Democrats to “abandon Biden” over his handling of the Israel-Hamas war.
@RepDebbieDingell (D-Mich.) outlines what the president can do to win back those voters.
“We’ve got to get a ceasefire.” pic.twitter.com/TUU2rCECap
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) December 17, 2023
“You can fight about how many thousands of people have been killed, but 6,000 to 8,000 children have been killed, 85% of the people in Gaza have had to leave their homes, they’re living in shelters,” she added before reiterating her call for a ceasefire.
The Oct. 7 massacre and Israel’s military offensive have highlighted internal divisions within the Democratic Party. Progressive Democrats have vocally opposed Israel’s response to the attack, which marked the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, while most in the party have emphasized Israel’s right to defend itself even as they call for restraint.
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Michigan is home to more Arab Americans than anywhere else in the country, and winning the state is critical to Biden’s path to victory in 2024. It was then-Democrat nominee Hillary Clinton’s losses in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania that propelled former President Donald Trump to the White House in 2016.
Still, Dingell and a number of her Democratic colleagues have demanded the U.S. push Israel to change how it prosecutes its war to dismantle Hamas inside Gaza, which the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry says has left more than 18,700 people dead.
