Key keywords: Michigan Democratic Party, Hezbollah-praising candidate, Jewish regent ouster, 2024 US presidential election swing states, Dearborn Arab-American voters, US-Israel policy, Israel-Hamas war electoral impact, Michigan Board of Regents election The Michigan Democratic Party has sparked nationwide controversy this week after formally nominating a local activist who has publicly praised Hezbollah members as "martyrs" for an open seat on the state Board of Regents, just 10 days after party leaders voted to oust sitting Jewish regent Mark Bernstein from the election slate over his vocal support for Israel’s military operations in Gaza. The nominated candidate, 38-year-old Dearborn resident Karim Dabaja, is a long-time community organizer who has been a prominent voice in Arab-American-led protests against U.S. military aid to Israel over the past 10 months. Footage from a 2023 pro-Palestine rally in Detroit resurfaced this week showing Dabaja referring to Hezbollah fighters killed in border clashes with Israel as "fallen martyrs defending their land from Zionist occupation." Hezbollah has been formally designated a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department since 1997, and is linked to multiple attacks that have killed hundreds of American citizens and service members in the Middle East. The ouster of Bernstein, a well-known Jewish community leader who had served on the Board of Regents for 8 years, followed weeks of pressure from the Michigan Democratic Party’s Arab-American caucus, which argued that Bernstein’s public statements defending Israeli strikes in Gaza made him unfit to represent a state with one of the largest Muslim populations in the U.S. Party leaders voted 57-43 to remove Bernstein from the slate, before voting unanimously to nominate Dabaja as his replacement less than two weeks later. The decision has split the Democratic Party both in Michigan and nationally, with moderate party members warning that the move risks alienating Jewish voters and suburban moderates in a state that President Joe Biden won by just 1.5 percentage points in 2020. The Michigan Jewish Democratic Council released a statement calling the nomination "a slap in the face to every Jewish voter in the state, and a dangerous embrace of extremist rhetoric that has no place in mainstream American politics." On the other side, progressive and Arab-American party members argue that the nomination is a long-overdue recognition of the needs of a voter bloc that has been a core part of the Democratic coalition in Michigan for generations. Dabaja defended his past comments in a press conference Wednesday, saying that his references to "martyrs" referred to Lebanese civilian casualties of Israeli strikes, not armed Hezbollah fighters, and that he was committed to representing all residents of Michigan regardless of faith or background if elected. The Board of Regents race will appear on the November 2024 general election ballot, alongside the presidential and congressional races, and polling as of this week shows the contest is effectively tied within the margin of error.