DETROIT — President Joe Biden will celebrate his recent endorsement by the United Auto Workers union by visiting Michigan on Thursday, but his time in this critical battleground state with the nation’s highest density of Arab Americans threatens to be overshadowed by growing anger over U.S. support for Israel’s war in Gaza.

Biden’s meeting with UAW workers in the Detroit area will come just days after union President Shawn Fain announced the group’s endorsement. Fain underscored Biden’s ties to the working class in advance of the president’s visit, saying in a statement: “The UAW knows where we stand, and who stands with us — Joe Biden.”

However, the Democratic president’s Michigan schedule does not include any meetings with Arab Americans, adding to increasing frustration within a key voting bloc over his full-throated support of Israel in its war with Hamas.

“Why not have a meaningful conversation for how you change course with a community that has first-hand accounts of what it’s like to live in the countries where your decision-making is unfolding?” said Abdullah Hammoud, the mayor of Dearborn, one of the largest Arab American communities in the nation.

Michigan has shifted increasingly Democratic in recent years, with the party controlling all levels of state government for the first time in four decades. Biden is looking to build on that power as he seeks reelection and the state’s critical 15 electoral votes.

His visit to Michigan comes ahead of the state’s Feb. 27 primary. The president faces no serious challenge in the primary, but his campaign is trying to build energy for the far tougher fight to come in the fall. Michigan was part of the so-called blue wall of three states — with Wisconsin and Pennsylvania — that Biden returned to the Democratic column when he won the White House in 2020.

Now, there are concerns within the party over rising tension between Biden and Arab Americans in the state, even as he seeks to capitalize on his support among union members.

The early endorsement by the UAW was a clear win for Biden, who came to Michigan to stand alongside striking autoworkers last year. His latest meeting with union members comes on the heels of Donald Trump’s visit with another one of the U.S. most influential unions, the Teamsters, in Washington on Wednesday.

Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., a longtime Biden ally, said Democrats need to tend to a multitude of constituencies in Michigan to hold on to the state in 2024.



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