Senator Mallory McMorrow warns DNC about Project 2025
Michigan State Senator Mallory McMorrow brought a giant copy of Project 2025 to warn the 2024 National Democratic Convention about the Republican political agenda.
LANSING — As Michigan state Democrats met in Lansing on Saturday to nominate candidates for state-level offices following a national convention aimed at unifying the party behind Vice President Kamala Harris, cracks within the party continued to emerge as Democrats seek to shift U.S. foreign policy toward Israel, with the race for a seat on the University of Michigan Board of Regents at the center.
Palestinian-American human and civil rights lawyer Huwaida Arraf had no plans to seek the nomination for the board at the Democratic National Convention until student activists unhappy with the board’s handling of protests against the Gaza war urged her to apply at the last minute.
Arraf saw her chance to make history as the first Arab American on the board, but lost to incumbent Democrat Denise Ilitch and Dr. Shauna Ryder Diggs. Diggs received over 2,800 votes and Ilitch over 2,400, while Arraf received just over 2,300 under the party’s proportional representation system. Before the nominations, Arraf said her campaign would make a strong statement despite the outcome. Her supporters expressed outrage at the defeat, chanting pro-Palestinian slogans and demanding to see the results card when the result was announced.
“In November we will remember,” they chanted.
Ilitch, of Birmingham, was previously president of Ilitch Holdings, Inc. and was first elected to the board in 2008. Diggs is a dermatologist and holds a bachelor’s and medical degree from the University of Michigan. She said her campaign priorities include eliminating college tuition for families of four with household incomes under $65,000.
The nomination for two seats on the University of Michigan’s Board of Regents was the only contested race at the Michigan Democratic Party Convention, which also nominated candidates for the Michigan Supreme Court, the State Board of Education and university boards.
In unopposed races, the party nominated Kyra Harris Bolden and Kimberly Ann Thompson for the Michigan Supreme Court, Ted Jones and Adam Zemke for the State Board of Education, Rebecca Bahar-Cook and Tommy Stallworth for the Michigan State University Board of Trustees, and Mark Gaffney and Rasha Demashkieh for the Wayne State University Board of Governors.
Before Democrats cast their convention votes, Arraf spoke to a crowd of supporters, including University of Michigan students, parents, faculty and staff wearing maize and blue shirts with her name on them. Her voice boomed through a megaphone as she described her experience at the Democratic convention in Chicago, where undecided delegates were denied their request for a Palestinian-American speaker.
“It was shameful that they made us as Palestinians and Arab Americans feel like we had no place in this party,” she said.
Arraf advocated that the Democrats nominate her at the convention. She said her campaign is an attempt to bridge the gap between University of Michigan students and the board. She is currently representing a student facing disciplinary action for his involvement in Gaza-related protest activities on campus.
More: Karamo is excluded from the convention as disagreements continue within the Michigan Republican Party
Congress provided another forum to voice those demands. A woman wearing a hijab shouted demands for divestment at University of Michigan Regent Jordan Acker on the floor of Congress as he stood still with his right hand on his chest during the national anthem. Acker’s law office was vandalized earlier this year with messages such as “Free Palestine” and “UM kills.” Acker said he was targeted because he is Jewish. Acker will not run for re-election this year because his term ends in January 2027.
Israel responded to the October 7 Hamas attack, which killed around 1,200 people, with counterstrikes in Gaza. According to the Gaza Strip’s Health Ministry, over 40,000 Palestinians in Gaza were killed in the conflict. Students across the country protested against the Israeli military action and demanded that their schools withdraw their investments in Israeli-linked companies and weapons manufacturers.
Arraf said the board needs to do more to elevate students’ voices. “They need to have a seat at the table. We need to protect them when they protest,” she said.
More: Karamo is excluded from the convention as disagreements continue within the Michigan Republican Party
Salma Hamamy – a Palestinian American who recently graduated from the University of Michigan – was among the many Arraf supporters at the Democratic National Convention. Hamamy said she lost family members in Gaza and recalled a police officer snatching a megaphone from her hand as she attended a student encampment in the Diag to protest the war.
Hamamy was president of the university’s Students for Justice in Palestine group and expressed disdain for the body’s response to anti-war activists on campus. “In a word, it was appalling,” she said. “They refused to engage in dialogue with the students.”
The Democratic convention in Michigan on Saturday was a continuation of Harris’ post-DNC campaign festivities. Michigan Democratic leaders, who spent the week in Chicago, described the gathering as a high-energy, passionate gathering for Harris.
But Arraf – who said she is an alternate, unaffiliated delegate to the DNC – left the Windy City distraught. She told the Free Press that the party had sent a clear message by rejecting her request for a Palestinian-American spokesperson: “We want your votes, but we don’t want your votes,” she said.
Michigan House Speaker Joe Tate (D-Detroit) told the Arab American Caucus at the Michigan Democratic Party convention that they had no part in the decision. But Tate – the first black speaker of the House – said the efforts of Arab Americans to make their voices heard sound familiar. “Look at 1964 during the civil rights movement, the black community was saying the same thing, am I wrong? Having those voices in the room is what makes us strong,” he said.
Other leading Democrats in Michigan appealed for unprecedented mobilization before the entire convention to elect Harris and Democrats on every ballot. “So my challenge to you is: We have 10 million in Michigan, so we need to have at least 10 million conversations between now and November 5,” said Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist II. Arraf said if Harris calls for an embargo on U.S. arms sales to Israel, it would facilitate many of those conversations and help Democrats make the case against former President Donald Trump.
Contact Clara Hendrickson: [email protected] or 313-296-5743. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter, @clarajanehen.
Want to learn more about this year’s election in Michigan? Read our voter guide, subscribe to our election newsletter, and feel free to share your thoughts in a letter to the editor.
