How Biden won over Arab Americans, other ethnic voters
President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the Nov. 3 election was historic. Not only did he win the most popular votes ever, but the engagement strategies utilized by the campaign helped to expand the electoral constituency for the Democratic ticket.
Instead of just focusing on what some Democratic operatives have come to call their “base vote” — Black, Latinx, Asian, LGBTQ and educated professional women — the Biden campaign and the Democratic National Committee committed resources and staff to engage a wide range of diverse ethnic voters.
We are both involved in the National Democratic Ethnic Coordinating Committee, a council of the Democratic Party that represents Democrats who trace their heritage to countries from Europe, the Mediterranean regions and Africa. For two decades we have been pushing our party to commit to outreach to our communities.
Just a half century ago, our ethnic groups — Irish, Italian, Polish, Arab, and Eastern and Central European — formed the bedrock of the Democratic Party. Because the party stopped engaging with our communities, over time, Democrats lost our support.
This year was different. The Biden campaign made a consequential decision to go after both the “base vote” and expend resources and staff time to bring our ethnic voters back to the Democratic fold. The strategy paid off.
Ethnic leaders from the Irish, Italian, Polish, Greek, Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, African, Lithuanian and Ukrainian communities were engaged in organizing calls, policy discussions and phone banking.
Our Arab American community was one of the constituencies the Biden campaign took seriously. The outreach to Arab Americans was historic. We had several policy sessions with senior advisers to Mr. Biden. Wehad input into the platform.
They issued a remarkable six-page policy paper (in Arabic and English) directed at Arab community concerns; hired Arab American staff to assist with the outreach effort; and had Mrs. Biden and Sen. Kamala Harris visit wellknown Arab American neighborhoods and businesses.
All this outreach paid off. Exit polls show that Mr. Biden made significant gains among ethnic working-class voters across the Midwest. In Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, the combined efforts of leaders from multiple communities brought an increase in voter turnout in key counties.
In Pennsylvania, we concentrated on the Arab American population in Philadelphia and its collar counties, the greater Scranton/Wilkes Barre community, Pittsburgh and Erie.
The Lehigh Valley is unique in that it probably has the highest concentration of Arab Americans in Pennsylvania. Estimates vary but as many as 20,000 Arab Americans may live in the Lehigh Valley, mostly in Allentown and Easton.
Allentown is home to one of the largest Syrian American communities in the United States. Easton has a large Lebanese American community, and both Northampton and Lehigh counties are home to large numbers of Palestinian Americans.
Arab American outreach in the Lehigh Valley was coordinated and led by Fadia Halma and Nagi Latefa both longtime activists in the area. They used various methods including door-to-door canvasing, phone banking and texting, all done by Arabic-speaking volunteers. Additionally, Arabic-speaking poll watchers were recruited in areas of high Arab American concentrations.
Another motivating factor contributing to the Biden/Harris victory was Trump’s Muslim and refugee ban. This ban hit home for the people in Allentown when six members of the Assali family flying into Philadelphia with proper visas on Jan. 28, 2017, were refused entry and returned to the Middle East because of the implementation of the Muslim ban. Although the Assalis are Christians from Syria, six of the seven countries listed on the first iteration of the ban were Arab.
This story had a happy ending when the Assalis were later allowed entry, with their return to the U.S paid for by Gov. Wolf. However, the ban was taken as a personal affront by many Arab Americans regardless of their faith. The policy was an important factor in flipping Northampton County from Red to Blue
Work with Arab American voters focused on Michigan and Pennsylvania. Polling showed that Arab American voter turnout was in the 80% range, with Biden leading Trump by 25%.
The lesson for Democrats should be clear. Party strategists have focused on the “base vote” in recent elections while ignoring ethnic voters. As a result, we handed them to Republicans on a silver platter.
What Biden’s campaign made clear is the path to victory isn’t a choice between the base vote (“minority communities,” millennials, and professional women) or ethnic voters. It’s not either/or. It’s both/and.