President Joe Biden is sending several senior aides to Michigan to meet with Arab-American and Muslim leaders, according to three people familiar with the matter, as his response to the Israel-Hamas conflict has frustrated many in a swing state for this year’s elections.
Envoys to Thursday’s meeting include Samantha Power, director of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID); deputy national security adviser Jon Finer; and Steven Benjamin, who heads the Office of Public Engagement, a White House official said.
The informants did not give their names, in line with regulations. The officials also did not offer details about the community members who will participate in the meeting.
Also scheduled to attend are Tom Perez, who heads the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, as well as Mazen Basrawi, the White House liaison to American Muslim communities, and advisers Jamie Citron and Dan Koh.
Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez and other campaign advisers traveled to suburban Detroit late last month, but found several community leaders unwilling to meet with them.
Other community activists have gone even further as they stress their dissatisfaction with the president’s handling of the war and have created a group called “Abandon Biden,” a movement to discourage voters from backing the president in November.
The White House said administration officials have been in regular contact with Muslim and Arab-American leaders in Michigan and other parts of the country.
Michigan is home to the largest concentration of Arab-Americans in the country and more than 310,000 residents are of Middle Eastern and North African descent.
Many in the community have expressed annoyance that Biden has not called for a permanent cease-fire in the four-month war that has killed more than 27,000 people in Gaza, according to Palestinian officials.
Joey Cappelletti in Lansing, Michigan, contributed to this dispatch.
U.S. President Joe Biden will send several senior aides to Michigan to meet with Arab-American and Muslim leaders, according to three people familiar with the matter, as his administration’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war has frustrated members of a key constituency in a swing state for the 2024 election.
Among those who will make the trip for Thursday’s meeting are Samantha Power, director of the U.S. Agency for International Development, senior deputy national security adviser Jon Finer and Steven Benjamin, who heads the Office of Public Engagement, a White House official said.
All those who discussed the plans were not authorized to do so publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Also scheduled to attend are Tom Perez, who heads the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, as well as Mazen Basrawi, the White House liaison to American Muslim communities, and advisers Jamie Citron and Dan Koh.
Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez and other campaign advisers traveled to suburban Detroit late last month, but found several community leaders unwilling to meet with them.
Other community activists have gone even further as they stress their dissatisfaction with the president’s handling of the war and have created a group called “Abandon Biden,” a movement to discourage voters from backing the president in November.
The White House said administration officials have been in regular contact with Muslim and Arab-American leaders in Michigan and other parts of the country.
Michigan is home to the largest concentration of Arab-Americans in the country and more than 310,000 residents are of Middle Eastern and North African descent.
Many in the community have expressed annoyance that Biden has not called for a permanent cease-fire in the four-month war that has killed more than 27,000 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-ruled territory’s Health Ministry.