Trump, Harris focus on ‘Blue Wall’ States in the final hours of the campaign

As the race for the White House goes down to the wire, Democratic candidate and U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris and her Republican opponent, former U.S. President Donald Trump, focused their weekend campaigns on three ‘Blue Wall’ States — Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

Both candidates and their running mates are also campaigning in other battleground States, such as Georgia and North Carolina. Mr Trump is hoping to mop up new votes as he makes stops in New Mexico and Virginia. Votes here may not affect the Electoral College outcome but could increase Mr. Trump’s popular vote tally.

Recently, the popular vote (i.e., total votes cast across the U.S., abstracting from State tallies) has been won by the Democrats. New Mexico was won by U.S. President Joe Biden in 2020. Virginia has been carried by the Democratic presidential candidate since 2008; Mr. Biden had a 10.1% victory margin there in 2020.

Ms. Harris and Mr. Trump are making their case before union workers, among others across the Blue Wall. The two candidates camaigned within a few miles of each other in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Friday evening. The city is Democratic, with a large Black population, with conservatives concentrated in the suburbs. Mr. Trump had flipped this State in 2016, which Mr. Biden won by a wafer thin margin of 0.7% in 2020.

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Both candidates campaigned in Pennsylvania over the weekend and they both will return to the crucial battleground State on Monday, where 19 electoral votes (of the 270 needed to win) are in play. Mr. Biden won the State in 2020 by just under 82,000 votes, but Mr. Trump had flipped it in 2016 when he ran against Hillary Clinton.

Democrats are caught in a tricky situation between the Jewish and Muslim communities over the Biden administration’s support for Israel in its conflict with Gaza (and now the larger West Asian region).  This is playing out clearly in Michigan, where, in the primary race, Mr. Biden had to reckon with a large majority of “uncommitted” votes in Arab-majority areas.

On the other hand, the Trump campaign has been running ads suggesting that Jewish Americans are only safe under a Trump regime — both because of his pro-Israel stance and instances of anti-semitism in the wake of Israel’s retaliation on Gaza.`

“You know, Trump I never cared for, but at least he will keep us safe,” one woman says in a campaign ad, as she discusses the candidates with her friends over coffee.

Mr. Trump has also courted Arab American voters — with two Michigan Mayors, Amer Ghalib of Hamtramck (the only Muslim majority city in the U.S.) and Bill Bazzi of Dearborn Heights endorsing him.

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Democrats are also reaching out to the Jewish community, including by dispatching Second Gentleman Dough Emhoff, who is Jewish, and former President Bill Clinton to Michigan.

While campaigning for Ms. Harris in Muskegon Heights last Wednesday, Mr. Clinton blamed Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat for the failure of the Camp David peace talks (with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barack) in 2000. He said Ms. Harris would try and negotiate a way to end the fighting and killing.

“From what I get from people in my community, right away Biden sent aid to Israel, has been very pro-Israel and Harris has been the same way,”  Laura Hershen of the Michigan Democratic Jewish Caucus told The Hindu on Saturday.

“I think with American Jews, it’s not just Israel that is going to push people to vote,” Ms. Hearshen said, emphasising that Jewish people are going to be voting on issues such as reproductive rights, which have been curtailed in conservative States since Roe V Wade was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022.

On the flip side, some Democrats, including Washington State Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal,  are making the case to Muslim and Arab Americans that Mr. Trump was the one who imposed travel bans on citizens from several Muslim-majority countries, shifted the American Embassy in Israel to the contested city of Jerusalem (from Tel Aviv) and  “encouraged” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to expand illegal settlements in the West Bank among other things. However, this is proving enough to keep disillusioned Muslim Americans from sitting at home, or, in some cases, voting for Mr. Trump.

Ms. Harris made campaign stops in East Lansing, Pontiac and Detroit on Sunday. Mr. Trump is scheduled to campaign in Michigan on Monday. An early-October poll from the Arab American Institute suggested that Mr. Trump and Ms. Harris were tied at the time, for support from Arab Americans.

“We feel disenfranchised,” Thasin Sardar, Trustee of the Islamic Society of Greater Lansing, told The Hindu on Sunday.

Mr. Sardar, who was born in Chennai and works in tech, used to campaign for Democrats in the past and still feels Mr. Trump would be a “far worse” candidate in all respects, including for Palestinians. He is backing Green Party candidate Jill Stein for President and voting for Democrats in down-ballot races.

While Ms. Harris has engaged with some Arab and Muslim leaders, not all parts of the community feel they have been taken along.

“We made several overtures towards the Harris campaign asking to be heard, but all our attempts to be heard have been denied,” Mr. Sardar said. Had his group been granted a meeting with Ms. Harris, Mr. Sardar said he would have sought an assurance that a Harris administration would have a “more humanitarian” policy, i.e., consideration of Palestinians, in the Israel-Gaza conflict.

Democrats have won Michigan since 2000, except for 2016, when Mr. Trump beat Ms. Clinton by a margin of 10,704 votes. Mr. Biden had a larger 1,54,000 vote margin over Mr. Trump in 2020.