- Rep. Rashida Tlaib raised $3.6 million since October, dwarfing even some Senate candidates.
- Her campaign said that over 22,700 people donated to her for the first time.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib raised $3.6 million in the last three months of 2023, dwarfing the campaign hauls of even some major Senate candidates.
It's by far the largest sum the Michigan Democrat has ever raised in a single quarter, and it comes at a time when she's faced unprecedented rebuke from fellow members of Congress over her views on Israel.
The only Palestinian American currently serving in Congress, Tlaib was censured by the House — including by 22 fellow Democrats — in November for her rhetoric on Israel. That included her use of the phrase "from the river to the sea," which Palestinians often use as a call for liberation but that some view as a call for the destruction of the State of Israel.
Tlaib was also the first member of Congress to call for a cease-fire in Gaza, doing so immediately in the wake of the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack. She faced withering criticism for that stance at the time, but in recent months — as the death toll in Gaza continues to mount — more and more Democrats have taken a similar stance, and pro-ceasefire protesters have increasingly become a fixture of President Joe Biden's campaign events.
Tlaib's campaign said that 22,700 people contributed to her for the first time since October, and that the overall average contribution was less than $75. A review of Tlaib's filing indicates that she received dozens of maximum contributions from Arabs and Muslims in particular, not just in Michigan but across the country.
"I'm so inspired by the diversity and strength of our supporters who are standing up to send me back to Washington to continue speaking the truth about the issues at home and abroad," Tlaib said in a statement.
The gargantuan haul — which dwarfed even the $2.8 million sum raised by Rep. Elissa Slotkin, the likely Democratic Senate nominee in Michigan — comes as members of the progressive "Squad" face the threat of primary challengers backed by supporters of Israel, including AIPAC.
But in contrast to others, Tlaib has yet to earn a credible primary challenger, and even then may prove difficult to unseat. In both 2020 and 2022, she handily defeated her opponents.
Following recent redistricting, the congresswoman now represents Dearborn, a majority-Arab city that's home to the largest Muslim population in the United States. Dearborn's mayor, Abdullah Hammoud, recently snubbed a meeting with the Biden campaign over the ongoing war in Gaza.