Michigan’s Muslims Thinking Globally, Acting Locally

The LA Times reports a surge in Muslim voter participation. Nationwide, the say, a record number of Muslims ran for office in 2018. More than 80 ran for state and local offices across the country in 2019. At least 39 of those won, according to a report from the Council on American-Islamic Relations, known as CAIR, and Jetpac.

The increased voter particpation can be seen in more granular detail in Michigan, which has a high concentration of Arab-American and Muslim residents. High voter participation parallels an increase in the number of Muslims running for office. Muslim politicians in the state hold office at all levels – from school boards to the House of Representatives.

Muslims and Arab Americans began arriving in the Detroit metro area in the late 1800s and early 1900s to work in the booming auto plants, including Henry Ford’s legendary River Rouge complex. Today, roughly 43,500 of Dearborn’s 95,000 residents claim Arab ancestry, many of them from Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen and the Palestinian territories, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2018 American Community Survey five-year estimates. Community estimates put that figure higher, with at least 60% of Dearborn’s residents coming from an Arab background.

MHC