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After Donald Trump stole a march on Dearborn from Kamala Harris, one might have predicted that Democrats would rush to rally around the nominee. If so, well, one might have lost that bet in Detroit last night.
Democrats did rally in Motor City late yesterday, urging members of the United Auto Workers to get out and vote. Progressive House members Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) showed up to boost Harris. But Dearborn’s Democrat congressional representative Rashida Tlaib refused to concur on an endorsement, instead urgings UAW members to focus on down-ballot races:
U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Detroit declined to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris’ bid for the presidency Friday at a United Auto Workers union rally as Democrats made a late appeal to get union voters to the polls.
Tlaib, one of few high-ranking Democrats who have not endorsed Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, was among the speakers for the UAW’s rally on the lawn of Solidarity House in Detroit. Tlaib, the only Palestinian American in Congress, has been critical of the Biden administration’s stance on Israel’s war on the militant group Hamas in Gaza following the Oct. 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel that killed mostly civilians.
Tlaib’s abstention is worse than it looks. Earlier in the day, Tlaib accused Trump of being “a proud Islamophobe + a serial liar who doesn’t stand for peace.” But then she also accused the “Biden admin” of giving “unconditional support for genocide” in the same tweet. “This election didn’t have to be close”, she concluded, as though abandoning Israel for Hamas would have made Biden and Harris more popular in an electorate that supports Israel 80/20 in the war.
But if Tlaib was really concerned about Trump being a “proud Islamophobe”, wouldn’t she have taken the lesser of two evils in supporting Harris? Especially as Michigan media have started sounding warnings about the amplified spoiler effect of alternative candidates?
With six third-party candidates on the ballot for president, Michigan is matched only by Wisconsin for having the most options among swing states for protest voters unhappy with the choices the two major parties have given them. Is it possible any of these third-party candidates will be spoilers that affect the race in Michigan, helping Harris or Trump win?
“A lot of the threats for spoiler effects are overblown”, said Valdosta State University political science professor Bernard Tamas.
