A lifelong Democratic supporter, Samraa Luqman proudly voted to re-elect Donald Trump as President of the United States. What drove her to cast her vote was a single issue, which will also become her voting consideration in this week's U.S. midterm elections.
"It's Gaza or it's gone," the Yemeni-American told BBC World Service's The Global Story. "If your stance on Gaza, Israel and Palestine is not good, we don't need you in office and we don't need to vote for you, no matter what party you belong to."
Angry over U.S. support for Israel, voters like Lukman, who have always supported Democrats, helped the Republican Party win in the key swing state of Michigan in 2024.
Now, in one of the most hotly contested races on the November ballot, similar concerns are driving voters on both sides of the dispute.
The tight race for Michigan's open U.S. Senate seat will be critical in determining which party controls Congress for the remainder of Trump's term. Democrats need to keep this seat and Republicans need to take it. Yet come Election Day, the race appears to be too close to call.
One of the parties is Democrat Abdul El-Sayed. If elected on November 3, the doctor will become the first Muslim federal senator in the United States. He has repeatedly described Israel's military operations in Gaza following the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups as genocide, a charge that Israel strongly denies. He narrowly defeated a pro-Israel Democratic opponent in the party primary.
El-Sayed’s Republican opponent, Mike Rogers, is a former FBI agent who served in the House of Representatives for 14 years. Rogers, who ran with the support of Trump, opposes cutting U.S. military aid to Israel and believes it is related to U.S. national security.
U.S. midterm elections usually revolve around domestic issues such as the economy and the cost of living, but the war in Gaza has become almost a political litmus test for Michigan voters. Both candidates emphasized that U.S. taxpayer dollars are being used to fund the conflict. According to estimates from Brown University's "Costs of War project", as of September 2025, U.S. military aid to Israel has reached approximately $21 billion.
Michigan has the highest proportion of Arab Americans in the United States, as well as a sizable number of Jewish voters who have long supported Israel. Both have historically been important supporters of the Democratic Party.
But in 2024, due to dissatisfaction with the Democratic Party's foreign policy in the Middle East, some Arab and Muslim voters launched the "Uncommitted" movement. More than 100,000 people refused to endorse any candidate in the primary to express dissatisfaction with then-President Joe Biden's "unwavering" support for Israel.
Voters like Lukman felt betrayed when the presidential nomination was handed to Kamala Harris, who promised to continue existing policies.
"I'm very angry because I've only supported Democrats my entire life," she said. "The problem is not just that they didn't say the word 'ceasefire' or try to stop the genocide, but that they firmly said, 'We've done nothing wrong and we're going to continue these policies.'"
In response, Lukman joined the wave of Muslim voters supporting Trump. "I didn't just vote for him, I campaigned for him," she said.
But even though she now considers herself a Republican, Luckman enthusiastically supports El-Sayed's bid for the Senate seat.
Another Arab voter, Amer Zahar, said that the Democratic Party only began to accept pro-Palestinian candidates like El-Sayed after experiencing the wake-up call of the 2024 election.
"The Democratic Party doesn't always represent my voice, and I don't think it always represents the voice of our community," Zahar said.
"We have to create a revolution within the Democratic Party, and that's exactly what we're doing in 2024... So after that revolution and the victory of pro-Palestinian candidates, we have more of a sense of belonging there."
But while the evolving rifts within the Democratic Party may echo the concerns of many Arab voters, another group of voters is now expressing concerns about being abandoned.
Some have questioned El-Sayed's ability to protect the Jewish community in times of crisis. "Those who are hurt hurt others," he said in March, after a violent attack on the Temple Israel synagogue. The attackers lost relatives in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon.
El-Sayed later apologized, saying he was not trying to justify the attack, but the move did not completely quell the controversy.
Aaron Starr, chairman of the Michigan Board of Rabbis, has publicly stated that he will not vote for El-Sayed. "That was really shocking," he said.
He told BBC Global Stories: "The majority of our community has always voted for the Democratic Party, but now feels that the words and actions of some members of the Democratic Party, not all of them, but the words and actions of certain candidates within the party, are endangering our security."
Like some Muslim Democratic voters in Michigan in 2024, some loyal Jewish Democratic voters are voting for Republican candidates now or not voting at all.
"I'm a Democrat, but first and foremost I have to trust that the people I'm voting for respect me, respect my politics, and respect my existence," said lawyer and University of Michigan regent Jordan Acker.
Aker has known El-Sayed for 20 years. The two went to college together, but Acker wasn't sure he would vote for his former classmate.
"In Abdul's worldview, it seems that Jews as individuals are acceptable, but Jews as a people are not. To me, that's very disturbing," he said.
