Strategies to Increase Effective Political Engagement

An American Muslim Case Study

The state of Virginia has emerged as a forerunner in increasing effective political engagement among American Muslims. In fact, Virginia accounted for 8 of the 26 American Muslim electoral wins nationwide in 2019. This case study explores the journey of a group of American Muslims from northern Virginia that took measures to create and nurture an ecosystem to improve their community’s political engagement. The group’s strategic aim was to increase American Muslim participation and representation at local, city, county, state, and national levels through volunteer service, appointment, and election.

PUBLICATION DATE

Published October 6, 2020

Author

AZKA MAHMOOD

Executive Summary

Background

Recent studies show a steady increase in American Muslims’ participation in the electoral process. Historic numbers of American Muslims ran for office for various levels of government in 2018. According to ISPU’s 2020 American Muslim Poll, Muslim voter registration increased from 60% in 2016 to 78% in 2020. In 2020, the 116th U.S. Congress includes three American Muslim representatives—the highest number of Muslims in Congress in history.

Still, Muslims are underrepresented within the higher levels of government. American Muslims make up an estimated 1.1% of the total U.S. population, yet their representation in Congress is less than 0.6%. Despite efforts by legacy and emerging American Muslim organizations, American Muslim voter turnout, involvement in public service, and government representation belie their true numbers and fall short of their professional and economic potential.

In the absence of true representation and involvement, American Muslims are often subjects rather than participants in debates about American Muslims and their concerns, and they rely on others to define them and pursue their interests. Allyship does not automatically translate into policy alignment, and, thus, lack of American Muslim representation in government means their concerns are not addressed. Amid this quandary, the state of Virginia has emerged as a forerunner in increasing effective political engagement among American Muslims. There are about 170,000 American Muslims in Virginia, making up about 2% of the total state population. Virginian Muslims are represented in virtually every profession and worship in about 100 mosques in various cities and towns. Not only have Virginian Muslims shown remarkable advancement in their numbers as volunteers in public service in the last few years, but Virginia also accounted for 8 of the 26 American Muslim electoral wins nationwide in 2019.

Defining Effective Political Engagement

This case study explores the journey of a group of American Muslims from northern Virginia (called the NoVa group in this report) who took measures to create and nurture an ecosystem to improve their community’s political engagement. The NoVa group had a strategic aim to increase American Muslim participation and representation at local, city, county, state, and national levels through volunteer service, appointment, and election. In this report, we define political engagement as 1) active involvement with governing bodies as part of a decision-making and public service group as a volunteer, 2) designation as an official volunteer or staff for candidates’ campaigns, 3) official appointment in a governmental position, and 4) organizing fundraisers and donations for political candidates in a systematic way.

Virginia Muslims’ Political Engagement Pre-2009

In Virginia, American Muslims participated in President Obama’s first election campaign in an unprecedented way. However, the fervor and momentum died down after President Obama was elected without any change in the long-term political engagement of the American Muslim community. Soon after the conclusion of the 2008 election cycle, a group of American Muslim leaders that later formed the NoVa group came to the following conclusions:

American Muslims had focused too much on national elections, despite constituting a small part of the electorate and holding little sway nationwide.
Most American Muslim community efforts had focused on voting in elections as the only tool to participate in in politics.
American Muslims had too often directed fundraising efforts to campaigns where their financial contributions had low impact.
American Muslims had too often backed local candidates with poor odds of winning, resulting in loss of time and money.

The group noted that the outcome of participation in elections in this manner resulted in few tangible gains in terms of actual engagement and representation of Muslims within government. These well-intended efforts were deemed to ultimately have little long-term impact on policies of importance to the American Muslim community. Such participation did not have any bearing on actual relationships and appointments, was riddled with the pursuit of individual glory among American Muslims seeking relationships with political candidates, and highlighted the lack of a long-term strategy for sustained political engagement.

Vision and Core Principles

The NoVa group set a goal to increase American Muslim participation in statewide government. They took steps to create wide-ranging systemic change to encourage voluntary public service, develop and nurture high-quality American Muslim leadership, and create a multifaceted ecosystem to facilitate their ascent into the highest levels of American politics. The group aimed to empower American Muslims to move from reactive political engagement to proactive engagement. The NoVa group believed that service-based grassroots and local level involvement in government would interweave American Muslims in the fabric of American politics, which would ultimately bring forth quality candidates and further the causes important to them as U.S. citizens. As a group of businessmen, the NoVa group focused on the core principles of scalability, collaboration over competition, and the creation of a talent pipeline.

Foundation and Levers of Effective Local Political Engagement

To achieve their goal, the NoVa group first created a foundation by starting a business association to study candidates and build relationships as taxpayers, job creators, and minority business owners. They established a sustainable stream of collective capital through a group of likeminded donors willing to invest in collective rather than individual gain. Next, they identified and utilized three levers of effective local political engagement:

Votes and voter relationships with candidates vetted through the business association and connected to the American Muslim community through authentic mutual relationships
Strategic financial investment and deployment of collective capital across several viable contests and candidates
Suggestions of high-quality and reliable American Muslim volunteers for appointments within candidate campaigns

Results

Over time, the NoVa group cultivated meaningful and long-term relationships with candidates across political, racial, ethnic, and religious lines. Several American Muslim volunteers and staffers were able to ascend political ranks and pursue careers in public service. American Muslim voices were included at the policy level with increasing frequency. In 2019, eight American Muslims won seats including Abrar Omeish, the youngest member ever elected to the Fairfax County School Board, and Ghazala Hashmi, the first American Muslim woman to be elected to the state senate in Virginia.

Challenges

The NoVa group encountered entrenched attitudes disfavoring public service careers in the American Muslim community. The community’s bias against political careers coupled with the professional expectations of the older generation of American Muslims limited the NoVa group’s ability to find and mentor young adult American Muslim professionals to join political campaigns. Deeply ingrained voter apathy, stemming from cynicism and a perception of futility with participating in the electoral process, hindered the NoVa group’s efforts to animate community members to study and support candidates and to take part in midterm and down-ballot races in particular. Moreover, an individual vs. collective glory mindset challenged the group’s efforts to create a collective pool of impactful financial donations made on behalf of the community instead of smaller, less powerful individual donations that community members sought to make for the sake of personal connection.

Room for Improvement

The NoVa group consists of a group of South Asian and Arab men and does not reflect the diversity of Muslims in America. It should be noted that initial group membership coalesced around financial capacity, formed with a focus on bringing together donor members. Still, the initial catalyst group lacked the voices of women and other ethnicities. Limited somewhat by the demographic makeup of the northern Virginia American Muslim community, core members have supported ethnic and religious minority candidates, included women and other minorities in networks, and mentored youths from diverse backgrounds to be more inclusive. Additionally, though the structure and broad strategy of the group are clear, the group lacks a concrete and comprehensive strategy that may be widely understood by community members and replicated by other American Muslim communities. For instance, details on policy matters and outreach methods appear to be unclear.

Introduction

In recent years, studies have shown a steady increase in American Muslims’ participation in the electoral process. According to ISPU’s 2020 American Muslim Poll, Muslim voter registration rose from 60% in 2016 to 78% in 2020. Emgage USA found that in four key swing states, American Muslim voter turnout increased significantly in the 2018 midterm elections as compared with the 2014 midterm elections. These increasing numbers are a testament to the unrelenting efforts of dozens of American Muslim organizations dedicated to American Muslim electoral and political engagement.

Yet, across the country, American Muslim voters’ growing intention to vote and registration status remain inconsistent with their actual turnout as voters. Similarly, there has been an increase in the number of American Muslims launching bids for elected office in recent years. In 2018, historic numbers of American Muslims ran for office at various levels of government, and as of 2020, the 116th U.S. Congress includes three American Muslim representatives—the highest number of Muslims in Congress in history. Still, actual representation in elected numbers falls short of American Muslims’ numbers in population. Muslims make up an estimated 1% of the total U.S. population but only 0.6% of Congress, and thus remain underrepresented at high levels of government. Importantly, the dearth of American Muslims at all levels of government falls short of the economic and professional strengths they contribute to society. American Muslim voices and concerns are not adequately addressed or reflected in government, necessitating a push for political representation and participation.

The disparities in participation and representation highlight a persistent, albeit narrowing gap in the way American Muslims engage with the political process. Viewed holistically, the goal of increased political engagement is not only to increase the number of American Muslims in elected office, but to have American Muslim voices heard and to influence government policy in all levels of government. Through this case study focusing on the Commonwealth of Virginia, we seek to gain an understanding of community efforts that may lead to improvement in effective government engagement.

Context for the Commonwealth of Virginia

This document studies political engagement efforts by a group of American Muslims in the Northern Virginia area, referred to herein as the NoVa group. In particular, our case study follows the steps that the NoVa group took to create a platform and an ecosystem that improves their community’s political engagement. The NoVa group had a strategic aim to increase American Muslim participation at local, city, county, state, and national levels through voluntary public service, which they hoped would lead to an increase of Muslims in government via appointment and election. We selected Virginia as a case study because of the remarkable progress made by the Virginian Muslim community in the years following the Obama election. Their advancement is reflected both in significantly increased participation in public service, as well as a marked jump in representation in government, including the historic wins of Ghazala Hashmi and Abrar Omeish. Remarkably, in the 2018 midterm elections, eight American Muslims won seats in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Virginia is home to approximately 170,000 Muslims, about 2% of the total state population. There are over 100 mosques across the state, and Virginian Muslims are represented in virtually every profession.

Defining Effective Political Engagement

For the purposes of this case study, effective political engagement means participation in the processes of governance. Specifically, we examine political engagement that translates into increased civic engagement—participation and representation at various levels of government. As such, the engagement studied herein goes beyond individual participation such as voting, writing letters, signing petitions, and attending political meetings. We define political engagement as

active voluntary involvement with civic bodies as part of a public service and decision-making group,
designation as an official volunteer or staff for political candidates’ campaigns,
official appointment in a government body, and
organizing fundraisers and donations for political candidates in a systematic way.

To collect data for this report, we conducted five in-depth participant interviews. Participants were contacted using snowball sampling.

Virginia Muslims’ Political Engagement Pre-2009: “What Are We Doing Wrong?”

The years following the election of President Obama to his first term in office served as a watershed moment for those who would later found the NoVa group. In Virginia, American Muslims’ political engagement had surged to unprecedented levels during President Obama’s first presidential election campaign. The promise of change had buoyed the Muslim community and galvanized it into action. The Virginia Muslim community mobilized for the Obama campaign to fundraise, canvass, and host large phone banking events. However, as the euphoria died down after the presidential inauguration in January 2009, the NoVa group critically analyzed the participation pattern of their own community and American Muslims at large. They found four themes in American Muslims’ historic engagement in democratic processes that, despite taking considerable time, effort, and financial resources, yielded little result. They concluded the following:

American Muslims focus solely on national elections. Yet, nationwide, Muslims constitute a small part of the electorate and hold little sway, which renders their influence negligible.
Most American Muslims regard voting in elections as the only effective way to participate in politics.
American Muslims direct fundraising efforts to campaigns where their financial contributions have low impact.
When supporting candidates in local races, American Muslims often back candidates with poor odds of winning, resulting in loss of time and money.

Lessons from 2008 to 2009

The NoVa group’s introspection was a direct consequence of the perceived lackluster outcome of the presidential election of 2008 for American Muslims as a community and a quick return to the old pattern of low civic and political engagement. The lessons from 2008 to 2009 as identified by interview respondents are described below.

1. Few Tangible Gains

First, in the immediate aftermath of the 2008 election, there were no tangible gains in representation at the local, state, or national level in terms of political appointments in the Obama administration despite considerable mobilization and significant donations from American Muslims. Despite their efforts to elect President Obama, American Muslims did not gain access to a seat at the table.

2. No Long-Term Strategy for Sustained Local Engagement

Second, the groups and communities that had mobilized for President Obama did not have long-term plans to harness their political momentum for continued engagement. At the risk of falling back into dormancy, the community would lose any gains made as a viable voting bloc and an aware, empowered constituency. The community had poured time and resources into a national election without a plan to participate in local political affairs. This lack of sustainability particularly concerned the NoVa group, since they noted the longstanding disengagement from meaningful local civic engagement among the vast majority of American Muslims to be a major hindrance to their ascent into politics.

3. Me, Not We

Lastly, when American Muslims did participate in political campaigns and supported candidates, they cultivated superficial, transactional, and individual relationships that were not meaningful beyond photo ops. Similarly, if an American Muslim candidate was elected, it represented individual success and did not guarantee a holistic representation of American Muslims. Based on these observations, the self-selected NoVa group set out to chart a strategic plan.