LANSING — As Michigan Democrats gathered in Lansing on Saturday to nominate candidates for statewide offices on the heels of a national convention to unify the party behind Vice President Kamala Harris, Democratic efforts for a shift in U.S. foreign policy toward Israel continued to expose fissures within the party with the University of Michigan’s Board of Regents race taking center stage.
Palestinian American human and civil rights attorney Huwaida Arraf wasn’t planning to seek Democrats’ nomination for the board at the party’s convention until student activists frustrated with the board’s handling of protests against the war in Gaza asked her to launch a last-minute bid.
Arraf saw a chance to make history as the first Arab American on the board, but she lost to incumbent Democrat Denise Ilitch and Dr. Shauna Ryder Diggs. Diggs received over 2,800 votes and Ilitch received over 2,400 while Arraf received just over 2,300 under the party’s proportional voting system. Ahead of the nominations, Arraf said her campaign, despite the outcome, would still send a strong statement. Her supporters expressed outrage over the loss, and launched into pro-Palestinian chants and demanded to see the results map when the outcome was announced.