Senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed told a Washington-area audience on Friday that Michigan is “the capital of Arab America,” a remark that quickly spread online and drew sharp reactions from both critics and supporters.
El-Sayed made the comment while addressing the Connect Arab America Empowerment Summit in Chantilly, Virginia, a D.C. suburb. He opened by pronouncing his name in Arabic fashion before telling the crowd: “I’m honored to be the next United States senator from the great state of Michigan, which of course I know we’re here in D.C. which of course is the capital of the United States of America. But Michigan is the capital of Arab America.”
The phrase “capital of Arab America” has long been attached specifically to Dearborn, the Detroit suburb with the largest Arab population of any city in the country. Many Dearborn families trace their roots to early 20th-century immigrants who came for jobs at Henry Ford’s auto plants, and the city also holds the largest Lebanese-American population in the United States.
El-Sayed’s claim extends that label to the whole state, but the numbers complicate it. California reportedly has a larger Arab American population statewide than Michigan, even though Southeast Michigan remains the most concentrated hub of Arab American life in the country.
The religious makeup of that community also cuts against the political framing. Michigan’s Arab American population remains predominantly Christian, anchored by Lebanese Maronite Catholics who have lived in the Detroit area for a century, along with Chaldeans from Iraq and other Lebanese Christians who have historically voted Republican.
Reaction Online
Clips of El-Sayed’s remarks spread fast on X, pulling in commentary from across the political spectrum.
“Home to Dearborn, deep roots, and real political muscle — Michigan isn’t just a battleground state anymore. It is officially the powerhouse of the Arab American movement. Pay attention. Everything is shifting,” wrote Ryan Fournier, founder of Students for Trump.
“You are not ready for the full reality of what is coming. No one is,” wrote influencer Jaimee Michell, who describes herself as a “proud American Jew.”
Imtiaz Mahmood, who identifies as an Israel supporter and “Abraham Accord activist,” posted an extended thread on El-Sayed and the state’s Muslim population, which he said “has roughly quadrupled since the 1990s, driven by waves of refugees from Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen, and Syria that Washington welcomed with open arms.”
The Numbers Behind the Claim
Michigan’s Arab American population has grown more than 87 percent since 2000, rising from roughly 150,000 to as high as 400,000 by some estimates. Because the federal government does not count Arab Americans as a distinct minority group, exact figures vary widely. The Michigan Health Department and Zogby International polling put statewide estimates anywhere from 409,000 to 490,000, with the Greater Detroit area alone accounting for between 300,000 and 350,000.
Zogby’s most recent polling ranks Michigan second behind California in total Arab American population, but notes that Southeast Michigan’s community is far more geographically concentrated than California’s, which is spread across the state.
Dearborn and parts of Detroit are also represented in Congress by Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), who in 2018 became the first Palestinian American woman elected to the House.
