Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) suggested Sunday that it should be out of the question for Arab Americans frustrated with the Biden administration’s handling of Israel’s war against Hamas to vote Republican this November.
“They shouldn’t be considering that. They should be voting for Kamala Harris,” Kelly said on CNN’s State of the Union. “She is committed to their values. She met with many in the Muslim and Arab community here earlier in the week to talk about the issues they care about, and certainly peace in the Middle East is at the top of the list.”
Kelly was previously considered Harris’s running mate.
During a campaign stop in battleground Michigan last week, Harris met with dissatisfied Arab American and Muslim leaders in Flint to hear their concerns about civilian casualties from the Israel-Hamas war, and Israel’s incursions into Lebanon. Recent polling spelled trouble for Harris with the voting bloc that offers key sway in swing states with expected narrow margins.
Former President Donald Trump led Harris by four points among the voting bloc in a survey last week, with 46% to her 42%, according to the Arab American Institute. President Joe Biden won in 2020 when roughly 60% of Arab Americans supported him.
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Kelly called the recent killing of a U.S. citizen by an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon a “tragic situation.”
“I know she’s the person that’s ready to deal with this on Day One,” Kelly said. “They also should consider what this means for their families, for their economics.”