On Friday, the newly elected Senator Abdul El-Sayed (D) declared Michigan to be the ‘capital of Arab America’.
This sparked a fierce reaction on social media – ranging from criticism to posts that backed up his claim with figures, reports Breitbart News.
The statement came during a speech at the Connect Arab America Empowerment Summit in Chantilly, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, D.C. El-Sayed began his speech by stating his full name in the Arabic manner before making his declaration.
“It is an honour for me to become the next senator for the great state of Michigan. I am, of course, aware that we are here in D.C., which is, after all, the capital of the United States. But Michigan is the capital of Arab America.”
“Michigan is the capital of Arab America.”
Senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed makes the claim during remarks in Washington, D.C., pointing to Michigan’s large Arab American population. https://t.co/xpY51R2IEp
— Fox News (@FoxNews) 7 November 2026
The term ‘the capital of the Arab-American community’ has historically been used to describe the suburb of Dearborn in Detroit, Michigan – the city with the largest Arab population in the US. California is the state with the largest number of Arab residents, with Michigan in second place, according to Arab America.
The figures for the number of Muslims look different: here, New York has the highest number, whilst Illinois has the highest percentage of the population.
Ryan Fournier, founder of Students for Trump, believed one should take El-Sayed’s claim seriously.
“With Dearborn as its home, deep roots and real political influence, Michigan is no longer just a swing state. It is officially the powerhouse of the Arab-American movement. Watch this space. Everything is changing.”
Imtiaz Mahmood, who described himself as a supporter of Israel and an Abraham Accord activist, posted an extensive thesis on El-Sayed and Michigan’s Muslim population, ‘which has roughly quadrupled since the 1990s, driven by waves of refugees from Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen and Syria, whom Washington welcomed with open arms’.
“You are not prepared for the full reality of what is to come. No one is”, wrote the influencer Jaimee Michell, who describes herself as a ‘proud American Jew’.
The Arab-American population in Michigan has grown by more than 87 per cent since 2000, from around 150,000 to as many as 400,000 today.
The website Arab America explains:
The Arab-American population in Michigan has grown by more than 87 per cent since 2000 and, according to some reports, has risen from around 150,000 to as many as 400,000 today.
Estimates vary between 409,000 and 490,000.
