When Abbas Alawieh was growing up in Dearborn, Tireman Road not only marked the border between his city and neighboring Detroit, it was also a racial dividing line – he lived among the largely Arab-American population on the street’s west side, and Black folks mostly lived to the east. 

It was classic segregation and not only was there little interaction between the two communities, Alawieh said, but he was also instructed “do not go to the other side” because it was “dangerous.” But when Alawieh was old enough, he went to the other side and said, “Hey this looks a lot like my neighborhood.”

Many of the same divisions persist, but Alawieh, now running Michigan’s 2nd Senate District, and Eboni Taylor, who’s running for the neighboring 3rd District, are working together to bridge the divide between the two communities.  

The candidates, both fresh off a dual endorsement by progressive U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), say they have a shared vision for addressing their districts’ economic needs. And the largely working class communities “have much more in common than we do differences,” Alawieh said. 

“It feels like there’s so much room for us to co-strategize and build the political power of a working class that is necessarily mulitracial,” Alawieh said. “I see in our campaigns a real opportunity to model a kind of relationship that is about reaching for one another instead of feeding into the divides that are separating our communities.” 

Taylor, who is African-American and grew up on Detroit’s east side, offered a similar perspective. She said she is partly inspired by the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, a progressive movement he assembled during his 1984 run for president that aimed to bring together diverse communities to advocate for economic and social justice. 

“The ‘powers that be’ want us to feel that we’re more divided and different than we are alike,” Taylor said. “But we’re the same – we all want an affordable state, we all want high quality education, and we want to worship safely.”

The two candidates have already held some campaign events together, and more are planned for the future. They recently attended an iftar dinner that Taylor described as “a beautiful event that brought both of the communities together,” in part to discuss the issues facing them. 

Taylor, who previously worked for Higher Heights, a national PAC that supports Black women candidates, is running to replace term-limited state Sen. Stephanie Chang (D-Detroit). The field is crowded, and includes longtime political establishment names like John Conyers III and Adam Hollier. 

But Taylor has gained significant endorsements, including Chang, U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Detroit), and Hamtramck Mayor Adam Alharbi. Hamtramck, a majority Muslim city, holds a key electorate in Taylor’s district.

Alawieh, 35, is a former legislative staffer for Tlaib and former U.S. Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri, a progressive who was a member of The Squad and ally of Sanders. He also co-launched the Uncommitted Movement in 2024, which aimed to pressure Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’s campaigns to end support for Israel over its military actions in Gaza, labeled a genocide by organizations such as the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry and Amnesty International.

Alawieh is seeking to replace term-limited state Sen. Sylvia Santana (D-Detroit), and is running in a diverse district with sizable Arab-American and Black populations. 

Taylor and Alawieh are both focused on affordability, with an emphasis on maternal health and easing childcare costs. Taylor noted that she is impressed with the universal childcare program implemented by Zohran Mamdani in New York City. Alawieh said he would carry over his experience with the Tlaib-led Congressional Mamas’ Caucus, and his work on Black maternal health with Bush, who is African-American.

The candidates plan to go to the Michigan Senate with the mindset that “the government should be a problem solver,” Taylor said. That differs from the approach of a political establishment that has taken Arab-American and Black voters for granted, she added. She is particularly concerned with how Democratic leadership has failed to effectively communicate with Black men, who voted for Trump in higher numbers in 2024 than four years earlier. 

“We’ve been taken advantage of, and [Democratic leaders] say, ‘They’re here for us, we can count on them,’ but the reality is we’re tired of this,” Taylor said. “Abbas and I want to go to Lansing to lift up our communities’ issues and concerns.” 

Neither are taking corporate PAC money and are not “beholden to the same old, same old,” she added. 

Meanwhile, Harris lost huge numbers of Arab-American and Muslim voters, largely over the administration’s support for Israel. Some affiliated with national political leadership attempted in the media to assign blame for Harris’s loss to Arab-American voters, and at times Alawieh was specifically targeted.

Alawieh noted that Harris lost ground among all demographics and across all swing states.

“There was a false choice of either coming together to elect a woman of color in Kamala Harris, or standing up for a ceasefire in Gaza, and for the humanity of our Palestinian and Lebanese brothers and sisters,” he said.  

He added that his and Taylor’s efforts to mend relationships between the communities are essential to avoiding a repeat in 2028. 

“The only thing that will stop us from falling for political traps that are meant to divide us are building relationships now that withstand the political storms ahead,” he said, adding that the aim is working class power regardless of race. “My own understanding of my leadership is not just to advance an Arab-American political agenda, but to advance a pro-working class agenda that builds on the work Black leaders like [Santana and former Sen. Irma Clark Coleman], and Wayne County executive Warren Evans have done for generations.” 

Taylor described herself and Abbas as two people who look different. She is a 5’3” black woman, while Alawieh is an Arab-American man with short hair who is “about a million feet tall.” 

Taylor added that they both come from different places, but “our values are the same, and there is a dearth of these values in the state senate, notwithstanding folks like Stephanie Chang.” 

“What makes Abbas a brother in this fight are his values and what he stands on,” Taylor said. “The thing that I’m most excited about is the work that we’re going to get done, because we’re taking working people’s issues in our hearts with us to Lansing.”