Two years after voting uncommitted in Michigan's Democratic primary to protest US support for Israel, Zainab Bibi Ahmed is now volunteering for the party's Senate nominee, Abdul El-Sayed. Ahmed was among 100,000 voters who chose uncommitted in February 2024, a movement spurred by what Amnesty International later called a “live-streamed genocide” in Gaza. In the 2024 general election, she voted for Green Party candidate Jill Stein, but El-Sayed's progressive platform has brought her back into the Democratic fold.
Progressive wave reshapes Michigan Democratic Party
El-Sayed's victory in the August primary was part of a broader progressive surge across Michigan. He was joined by a slate of progressives who secured Democratic nominations at every level of government, including attorney general hopeful Eli Savit, US House nominees Will Lawrence and Donavan McKinney, state House nominee Chris Gilmer-Hill, and Ann Arbor mayoral candidate Yousef Rabhi. This month, 2.5 million people voted in Michigan's primary, a significant jump from the 2 million who turned out in 2024.
Ahmed, a resident of Troy and academic staffer at Wayne State University, cited El-Sayed and other progressive candidates as reasons for her return. “I did not think I would come back to the Democratic party after 2024. I really didn't. But then when I saw [New York City mayor] Zohran Mamdani and Abdul El-Sayed, of course, and Shereef Akeel and Amir Makled,” she said, referencing two university regent candidates, “I was like, OK, I cannot not support these gentlemen just because they're Democrats.”
Reluctant and former Democrats back El-Sayed
Waqas Sarwar, a Dearborn resident who voted for Stein in 2024, cast his primary ballot for El-Sayed and Representative Rashida Tlaib this month. “I hate Democrats, but I love Abdul,” Sarwar said. He believes the party needs “fresh blood” like El-Sayed and should pivot on Israel and Aipac to align with young voters. Polling shows a majority of Democrats oppose military aid to Israel, and roughly 75% support Medicare for All and abolishing ICE, positions shared by El-Sayed. The Democratic party's approval rating has hit historic lows, at times sinking lower than Trump's favorability. “The party is totally lost right now,” Sarwar said.
Not everyone has returned. Amin Hashmi, 63, a Pakistani American Muslim engineer in Troy, voted for Trump in 2024. “It was a desperate attempt for survival because I knew that Green party will not be a useful vote,” he said. Hashmi, angry at Biden over Israel, said Harris did not differentiate herself on foreign policy or reach out to Arabs and Muslims. In the primary, Hashmi voted for El-Sayed over Haley Stevens, whose campaign was heavily backed by Aipac. But in the general election, he remains undecided, leaning toward Republican nominee Mike Rogers. “Mike [has] to offer better than what Abdul is doing,” Hashmi said. He now calls himself a “reluctant Republican and a dejected Democrat”.
Gaza as a litmus test in US politics
Samraa Luqman, a Yemeni American activist in Dearborn who voted for Trump and El-Sayed, noted that Muslims and Arabs have shifted parties over war before, citing George W Bush's 2003 invasion of Iraq. In 2024, Trump became the first Republican to win Dearborn since Bush in 2000. Luqman, previously a “staunch Democrat”, said “the Democrats became the George Bush of Gaza”. However, she is returning to the Democrats for El-Sayed, who she said is “worried about Americans at home, and that to me is America first”.
Dorian Sdunek, an 18-year-old from Howell, said he liked El-Sayed's commitment to campaign finance reform. He would have supported the uncommitted movement in 2024 if he had been old enough to vote, but now prefers to help elect someone with “a chance of listening to us”. Rima Mohammad, co-founder of the People's Coalition, said El-Sayed's candidacy has energized people. “There were brand new primary voters. They didn't know what to do, but they came because Abdul was on the top of the ticket, and they would say: well, who else?”
The uncommitted movement, which sprang from Michigan in 2024, garnered about 13% of the Democratic primary vote. Lexis Zeidan, co-founder of the movement, said they were “trying to save Palestinian lives, while also trying to save the Democratic party against the Trump election”. The group declined to formally endorse Harris but urged voters to “vote against” Trump. Zeidan said the effort “fell on deaf ears at the time”, but candidates now appear to be responding. Mohammad said Gaza has become a litmus test: “Palestine was like the moral compass. If you were not with the people in Gaza … If you're pro-war, you're OK with the war, what else do you stand for?”
