The idea you would stay home and not vote for Kamala Harris because of Gaza

[no_hypocrisy]

76. My small town (less than 12,000) voted for Trump over Harris.

Mostly landlord owners with immigrant tenants, who are significantly Muslim. Near Paterson, also significantly Muslim.

I was a poll worker and I couldn't have been more surprised at 8:03 p.m. when the numbers rolled out of the voting machines. What??!!! Trump??? No!!!

But I should have known my town would lean this way. Back in June, our district had primaries for Congress and our representative, Bill Pascrell, Jr., had easily won for years. But he had a challenger, Mohamed Khairullah. I don't know whether he independently sought the seat or whether he was urged to. While Pascrell won, Khairullah garnered a significant number of votes. I suspected that the voting block was based on support for Khairullah more than the issues locally, regionally, statewide, and/or nationally. And (terrible to say) the voting block obeyed directives who to vote for. Let's say Khairullah "retired" after the primaries and said nothing about Harris and Trump.

Gaza/October 7 was more than six months before the primary, and a raw topic in June and complicated. By November, in our district, it "trumped" the more pressing national issues. And the voters conveniently forgot about Trump's original Muslim ban and voted against Harris as a vicarious vote against Joe Biden, whom they believed favored Israel.

While I don't have the evidence, I suspect that this was the mindset of many Muslim voters, believing and hoping that ANYONE would be better than Kamala Harris and the Palestinians in Gaza would not be further persecuted.

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.