DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) — President Joe Biden’s campaign manager traveled to suburban Detroit on Friday, where many Arab Americans are enraged over the administration’s Israel policy, and found a number of community leaders unwilling to meet with her — exposing a growing rift between the White House and key groups often otherwise loyal to Democrats in a critical swing state.
Julie Chavez Rodriguez led a group of campaign advisers to the Dearborn area, as part of her ongoing effort to meet with core supporter groups around the country.
She spoke throughout the day with some Arab American community leaders. But Rodriguez’s trip ended when a late afternoon meeting with Arab American leaders was canceled after everyone invited — between 10 and 15 people — declined to show up.
Other activists went beyond simply not showing up for Rodriguez, as leaders from “Abandon Biden,” a movement discouraging voters from supporting the president in November, spoke to hundreds of people at a local mosque in anticipation of the campaign manager’s visit.
Both developments highlight the acute challenges the president’s campaign faces as it tries to sure up support among Arab Americans, whose votes will be key in Michigan during November’s election but who have turned on Biden given his full-throated support for Israel in its war with Hamas.
Community leaders said that Rodriguez originally came to Michigan planning a larger meeting with Arab Americans but settled for the series of smaller gatherings, including the one where no invitees ultimately showed up, because of pushback to the original plan. Assad I. Turfe, a deputy Wayne County executive, said he was tasked with coordinating the original meeting, but that it was abandoned due to lack of interest.