Politics

Fellow Muslims keep asking me why I support Kamala Harris. Here’s what I say.

Published

2 years ago

November 12, 2024

Fellow Muslims keep asking me why I support Kamala Harris. Here’s what I say.

The first Muslims to arrive in what became the United States of America were Black like me. They were brought here via the trans-Atlantic slave trade. These enslaved Africans were faithful Muslims praying in the U.S. colonies before Thomas Jefferson was even born. And they suffered, as all enslaved Africans suffered, through genocide and brutal and deadly oppression. Although there’s a mistaken belief that Muslims first arrived en masse in the United States with an influx of Arab and Pakistani immigrants in the 1960s, the history of Black Muslims, who were here before there was a country, is a reminder that while we may share the same faith as Muslims from the Middle East and South Asiawe have a different experience of America.

While we may share the same faith as Muslims from the Middle East and South Asia, we have a different experience of America.

These Black Muslim ancestors left rich histories and a legacy of fighting for what’s right. I am proud to have carried on this legacy throughout my career, most recently by founding the Black Muslim Leadership Council — a first-of-its-kind nonprofit dedicated to advancing justice and equity for Black American Muslims through policy advocacy, civic education, voter mobilization and leadership development. Our advocacy wing, the Black Muslim Leadership Council Fund, has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaignand I, in my personal capacity, am doing the same.

Despite my consistent calls for a cease-fire in Gazaand despite my history of working with the Palestinian community in my native Philadelphia, my support of the vice president’s candidacy has led to accusations that I am ignoring the human rights catastrophe in Gaza and undermining the Palestinian cause. Despite my leadership in the Uncommitted Pennsylvania campaignwhich led to more than 60,000 voters using the write-in vote to protest President Joe Biden’s leadership; and despite my directly telling President Biden about the history of solidarity between Black Americans and Palestinians and the moral dilemma his candidacy presented, I have been repeatedly asked by other Muslims to defend my vote for Harris.

My parents converted to Islam in the early 1970s, finding a safe haven and a home alongside other Black American Muslims in a country that so often tried to reject them. This community is now my haven. My Pennsylvanian Muslim family is my foundation, and serving them is my way of life. Every day, I see the struggles facing my people, and I see the courage and resolve it takes to overcome and thrive.

Despite so many advancements, my community still suffers significant oppression. I have been harassed, targeted and doxxed by people throughout the country — including by other Muslims. My support of Vice President Harris has been attacked, as many have chosen not to support Harris, seeing her as an extension of President Biden, who has been widely criticized for his handling of the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. My goal in my career is to advance policy for the American Muslim community at large, but with a focus on Black American Muslims.

I will continue to focus on the nuanced needs of my specific community because, in large part, no one else is focusing on us. This is how I honor the legacy of my father, a prominent imam who devoted his life to serving this same community. While I share many of the same goals and concerns as other American Muslims, I also am specifically dedicated to uplifting the needs of the Black American Muslim community.

My community cares deeply about the crisis in Gaza, as well as the suffering of Muslims in Sudan and its Darfur region Congo Yemen Syria Kashmir and China. We care about reproductive rights, particularly for people who have experienced sexual abuse, and for women who have died during childbirth — especially Black women, who die at much higher rates than other women in the United States. We care about economic opportunity, including the paths to establish generational wealth, which have for so long been denied to Black people, including Black Muslims. We care about public safety and ending the rampant gun violence that has led to the deaths of so many people, especially Black men.

Harris is the candidate who has most effectively supported the causes that are important to my community. Her opponent, former President Donald Trump, has shown in his track record and on the campaign trail that he will not support these causes.

I am specifically dedicated to uplifting the needs of the Black American Muslim community.

I have heard from many who say they’ll vote third-party to demonstrate their dissatisfaction with the major party candidates, or who say they will not vote at all. As tantalizing as some of these third-party candidates may be, they are not a viable option. Other third-party candidates have deeply problematic and even dangerous stances on international relations, health care and immigration.

Not voting is not an option either. The threat that faces our country, and our world, is too great not to use the greatest gift of democracy: our vote. In its purest essence, politics is about strategy. This sometimes means having to make tough choices to achieve the best possible outcome for ourselves and our community. It would be nice to agree with each and every one of our chosen candidate’s decisions and platforms. But we do not have to do this to keep our democracy alive.

We have, on one hand, a candidate who fights for voter rights, reproductive rights and public safety. On the other, we have a candidate who seeks to consolidate power, threaten our constitutional freedoms and implement policies reminiscent of the Jim Crow era. We have a candidate who, as a Black and South Asian woman, understands personally the oppression faced by the most neglected of us and has overcome adversity to rise to a position of power, and we have a candidate who moved to ban Muslims from entering the country, has called majority Black nations, many of them with large Muslim populations, “s—hole countries,” and who bases his campaign on sowing division and hatred.

As I have already done, I will continue to advocate for the innocent people who are being killed in Gaza, as well as advocate for the other domestic needs of my community. I will also continue to tell Muslims asking me to defend my vote for Harris that I see her as not only the best chance for a cease-fire, but also the best chance we have to protect fundamental freedoms — for every one of us.

In this decision, and in my personal and professional career, I stand on the shoulders of the great Black American Muslim women and men who came before me — who fought through unspeakable traumas to build a better life for their descendants. I am proud to be part of this legacy. The fight continues now, as it has for centuries — and it will take each one of us committing to defending our freedoms to ensure that we will not go back.

The views represented in this article are the author’s own, given in her individual capacity and do not represent the positions of her associated institutions.

Salima Suswell

Salima Suswell is an award-winning community organizer and coalition builder. She is the founder and CEO of the Black Muslim Leadership Councila national nonprofit dedicated to uplifting the unique needs of Black American Muslims, and its 501(c)(4) advocacy wing, the Black Muslim Leadership Council Fund. She is also the CEO of Evolve Solutionsa government relations and community engagement firm based in Philadelphia.

Politics

‘I think Alaska’s turning blue’: Republicans fret Sullivan’s path to reelection

Published

21 hours ago

October 14, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

WASILLA, Alaska — Three weeks out from Election Day, President Donald Trump took a helicopter to a plane to another helicopter to a motorcade to an ice hockey rink in Alaska’s Matanuska-Susitna Valley, traversing nearly 4,000 miles over more than eight hours to turn out his base here to help Republicans defend the Senate.

But Trump’s trek might not be enough to save Sen. Dan Sullivan, who’s running in a tougher-than-expected race against Democrat Mary Peltola in a state where the president’s approval rating is underwater and independents outnumber both Republicans and Democrats.

Alaska strategists and voters who spoke to Blue Light News acknowledged that Sullivan faces a difficult path to reelection, despite Trump’s time investment and the outside money pouring in.

“Very conservative MAGA voters can’t vote for you harder,” said Scott Kendall, a veteran political strategist who worked on two of Alaska GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s campaigns and was chief of staff to former Alaska Gov. Bill Walker. “Donald Trump’s support in this current climate is both a blessing and a curse.”

Even some Trump supporters at the Tuesday night rally admitted the outlook appeared bleak.

“I think Alaska’s turning blue,” said Matt Niessink, a 45-year-old general contractor from Wasilla. He said he had voted for Trump three times and planned to support Republicans this year.

What did he wish the president would do differently? “I wish he’d shut his mouth sometimes and not be such a pompous ass,” Niessink said.

The president was in Wasilla — population 10,556 — because the outlook is darkening for his party in a state he carried by 13 points just two years ago. In a midterm year defined by the cost of gas and groceries, the Last Frontier has been hit particularly hard, with the average price of diesel nearing $7 per gallon. In the Senate race, Peltola is flush with cash and leads Sullivan in most polls. MAGA Inc., the cash-rich Trump-aligned super PAC, is increasingly focusing on Alaska as one in a slate of states that can help Republicans hold the Senate.

Enter Trump, who has been spending the cycle’s crucial final weeks holding rallies in red states to juice support among his base, which tends to see depressed turnout in years when he’s not on the ballot.

“That was a lot of flying,” the president said at the top of his remarks. “In fact, they were thinking about canceling. They said, ‘Sir, you’re very busy, this is very tough.’” But, Trump continued, he refused to cancel for a state he won three times.

Echoing his comments at other red-state rallies, Trump asked the roaring crowd for “one big favor” — to “pretend that I’m on the ballot, because every time I’ve been on the ballot, we win.” He repeated his promise that Americans will receive $5,000 dividends if Republicans hold both chambers.

“What this is about is getting out the vote,” Sullivan told reporters before Trump’s speech. “A rising tide of enthusiasm lifts all the candidates.”

Unlike some other Republican candidates in tight races, Sullivan has shied away from distancing himself from the least popular aspects of Trump’s presidency.

Sullivan proclaimed on stage at the rally that “the conflict in the Middle East is temporary. The true forever war is the national Democrats’ war against Alaska oil and gas and our jobs.” And although a campaign aide released a statement condemning Trump’s move to import Russian diesel, Sullivan did not join four of his Republican Senate colleagues, including Murkowski, who called on Trump to reverse the decision.

Art Hackney, a veteran Republican strategist in Alaska, said that “most of the people who support” Sullivan “think that he should” break more with the president.

Hackney, who runs a pro-Sullivan super PAC called “We Stand with Dan,” attributed that choice to loyalty — but suggested the president’s demand of fealty, and treatment of frequent dissenter Murkowski, could also be part of Sullivan’s calculus.

“A lot of his longtime supporters and the people who are in the industries that would benefit from that wish he would be more blunt,” Hackney said. “But with what Murkowski has done, if Dan did something considered a disrespectful trigger or something, what do you think would happen? It could well have implications for things that affect Alaska’s economy.”

Like this content? Consider signing up for Blue Light News’s Playbook PM newsletter.

Politics

In private, top Republicans believe the House is a lost cause

Published

1 day ago

October 14, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Some top congressional Republicans have privately concluded that it is likely impossible for them to keep control of the House of Representatives in the midterm elections, and they are now focused on limiting the scale of the defeat and salvaging the party’s Senate majority.

Five senior Republican lawmakers, all granted anonymity to speak candidly about their party’s dire position, told Blue Light News the House had all but slipped away.

One senior House Republican said the GOP’s goal at this point was to “save as many Republican seats as we can.” The president, this person said, was not helping.

“President Trump has made this election all about himself,” the lawmaker said. “Now we have to survive that political storm.”

A second Republican member of Congress said the movement of campaign advertising made plain which side was in control of the midterms. This lawmaker predicted Democrats would pick up about 10 seats, more than enough to take control of the chamber.

Even in newly redistricted red states like Florida and Texas, this person said, Republican candidates were “hanging on with their fingernails.”

Republicans have already fallen back from several contested House districts that they feel are no longer winnable, including those held by Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa and Tom Kean Jr. of New Jersey. Trump carried their districts just two years ago. The party last week gave up on an Omaha-based district held by retiring Rep. Don Bacon.

Trump officials and other top GOP operatives say more candidates may be cut off in the coming days, in order to shift advertising money to races where it can make more of a difference. Republican groups have already given up on multiple races where they once hoped to unseat Democratic lawmakers.

The Republican Party is under extreme pressure across the Midwest, where it is now spending heavily to defend Senate seats in once-reliably MAGA states like Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas.

Bacon, a maverick often at odds with the White House, said there was no mystery in his party’s political tribulations.

“I’ve talked to some who are making these decisions: The biggest problem is the president’s polling numbers and unfavorables,” Bacon said.

White House officials insist they’re not giving up on either chamber of Congress. In a statement, White House spokeswoman Liz Huston said Trump remained “committed to maintaining Republican majorities in both the House and Senate.”

As he departed on Tuesday to campaign in Alaska for embattled GOP Sen. Dan Sullivan, Trump professed optimism about the midterms but acknowledged that sitting presidents typically see their party lose seats in the off year.

“But I’m doing a tour right now and I’m doing rallies,” Trump added. “The level of enthusiasm for the Republican Party is way up.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson went even further, flatly declaring during a campaign stop in deep-red Texas that “the polling is wrong” in showing his party on the brink of a broad defeat.

Yet at a tactical level, the Republican Party’s moves to shift money away from defending the House and toward saving the Senate are clear enough. In recent days, the Congressional Leadership Fund, the top super PAC for House Republicans, canceled advertising for key House candidates in Nebraska and Iowa and allowed the Senate Leadership Fund – a Republican group focused on the upper chamber – to swoop in and claim the airtime to support Nebraska Sen. Pete Ricketts and Rep. Ashley Hinson, who is running for Senate in Iowa.

“These are not the moves of a party that’s going to keep the House,” a third Republican lawmaker said.

In statements to Blue Light News, both CLF and the National Republican Congressional Committee said they had no intention of giving up on the fight for control of the House.

NRCC spokesperson Mike Marinella said districts are won “one by one,” and that the GOP has “the financial firepower and ground game needed to win.”

Chris Winkelman, president of CLF, said his group would keep moving money around to maximize the impact nationally.

The goal, he said, was to “keep the pressure on the most vulnerable Democrats and preserve a path to 218 seats.”

Former Rep. Carlos Curbelo, a Florida Republican who lost his swing seat in Trump’s first midterm election eight years ago, said his former colleagues were clear-eyed about where the election seemed to be headed.

“The environment is about as tough as one could expect,” Curbelo said. “There is no one who has privately stated that they believe Republicans can hold the House — not in recent weeks, anyway.”

Megan Messerly, Lauren Fedor, Lisa Kashinsky and Myah Ward contributed to this report.

Politics

Ossoff says he has ‘zero interest in running for president’

Published

2 days ago

October 14, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff said Tuesday he will not run for president in 2028 and committed to serving a full six-year Senate term if reelected.

“I have zero interest in running for president. I’m not running for president. I’m running for reelection to the Senate,” Ossoff said during a Georgia Senate debate against Republican Rep. Mike Collins.

Asked by Greg Bluestein of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution whether he would serve his full term if he wins in November, Ossoff replied: “Yes, I will.”

The remarks are Ossoff’s most forceful rejection yet of a potential 2028 presidential bid even as his name has repeatedly surfaced in national Democrats’ conversations about possible contenders for the party’s nomination. His public commitment to a full Senate term on Tuesday is the latest of his campaign’s many efforts to tamp down that speculation.

Ossoff gained national attention this year given his strong fundraising numbers, his consistent lead in public polling against Collins and his ability to generate viral moments on the campaign trail, particularly through his attacks on President Donald Trump. Democrats are bullish about Ossoff’s ability to hold onto his Senate seat — so much so that the Democratic-aligned Senate Majority PAC said Tuesday it was removing its ad spending in Georgia for the week.

He’s also taken steps to boost the state Democratic party in Georgia, a perennial battleground that has been and will be key to winning the presidency. If November brings historic wins up and down the ballot, Ossoff will get some of the credit — and he’ll have confirmed his status as a leader in the swing state.