Trying to take advantage of President Joe Biden's increasing weakness with Arab American communities due to his administration's strong support for Israel in its war against Hamas, independent presidential hopeful Cornel West is taking aim at Michigan, where a single percentage point could make the difference for Biden's reelection bid, Politico reported Tuesday.
West told the publication that his campaign will travel to Michigan early next year to gain backing among Arab American voters in Dearborn, "environmental justice advocates" in the majority Black city of Flint, as well as university students and indigenous populations.
West, a Black intellectual who has a long history with Blacks and Arab Americans, said he is well positioned to appeal to these groups.
"We're the only major candidate, I think, who's bringing any kind of sanity and sensitivity to the suffering in Gaza," he said. "Just strikes me that all the other three major candidates are living in a Neolithic Age when it comes to dealing with what's going on in the Middle East. They would take us back, and I'm the only one who would take us forward."
West is optimistic despite experts pointing out that he has a shoestring budget and an unconventional campaign structure.
"I am in no way an ordinary politician," West said. "Therefore, it's a matter of making sure that we have people in place who are willing to be unorthodox and cut against the grain, organizationally, internally and politically and morally."
West, who has been to several pro-Palestinian demonstrations in recent weeks, plans to make a stop in Dearborn, a town near Detroit with a significant Arab American population and in collaboration with Jewish Voice for Peace.
West will also travel to Flint to focus on the town's water crisis and environmental justice issues, make stops at the University of Michigan and Michigan State, and visit the state's remote upper peninsula to meet with indigenous populations.
"By speaking to Michiganders, we will be speaking to pretty much the entire country at the same time," said Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright, West's co-campaign manager. "This is a very critical state. Whoever wins that state is going to be the president."
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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