Muslim PAC gets the vote out for Hillary Clinton in battleground Pennsylvania

In an effort to get the Muslim vote out across Pennsylvania, a national political action group is urging mosques across the state to mark the Friday prayer service with a sermon about civic duty.

“The whole objective for the sermon will be to emphasize on the civic engagement and duty of the Muslim community,” said Abdul Mughees, chairman of the Pennsylvania branch of EmergeUSA PAC. The national political action committee supports local, state and federal candidates based on their support for civil rights and the rights of minorities.

On Friday, the group is calling for a National Khutba Day, or day of prayer, to emphasize the importance for Muslims to vote in Tuesday’s general election.

EmergeUSA this year became the first major Muslim American PAC to endorse and launch a social media ad in favor of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. The group has mobilized get-the-vote-out efforts across key battleground states, including Florida, Texas and Michigan.

Mughees said that while the group’s endorsement process is transparent - and based on community wide polls - such an outreach was hardly needed this cycle.

“Given the circumstances we didn’t need polling from the community,” he said. “There was a very clear message that we got from everybody that they wanted to endorse Hillary.”

Mughees added that the Clinton campaign had been engaged with the political action group since April.

“They haven’t reached out at the tail end. It’s been nearly nine months since the campaigned engaged us.” He added that the Bernie Sanders campaign had also engaged the Muslim community across Pennsylvania.

“Unfortunately we never had anything from the (Donald) Trump campaign,” Mughees said.

A registered independent, Mughees said that the Muslim community in Pennsylvania leaned heavily toward George W. Bush in his first run for office. He described the group as bipartisan, and his community as politically diverse.

“This is a community that voted for Bush,” he said. “But it’s the same community that is absolutely going to vote for Hillary.”

Throughout the presidential campaign, Trump waged divisive and hostile rhetoric toward Muslims, from calling for a temporary ban on Muslim immigrants to suggesting “certain mosques” should come under surveillance.

Trump this summer drew widespread condemnation when he assailed the family of fallen soldier Capt. Humayun Khan, a Muslim American. Clinton invited Humayun’s parents, Khizr and Ghazala, who are originally from Pakistan, to address the Democratic National Convention. Trump broke a major American political and societal taboo when he engaged in an emotionally-charged feud with Khizr Khan, and further stoked outrage by implying Ghazala Khan did not speak while standing alongside her husband at the convention because they are Muslim.

According to the Pew Research Center, Muslims account for roughly 3.3 million people in the total United States population. That accounts for about 1 of the total U.S. population. Those figures are not exact. Since the U.S. Census Bureau does not ask questions about religion, no official government count of the U.S. Muslim population is available.

American Muslims have largely lost their allegiance to the GOP over the years. In a 2011 survey, 15 percent of Muslims said that they see the Republican Party as friendly toward their community while 48 percent said they are unfriendly. By contrast, 46 percent of Muslims said the Democratic Party is friendly toward them and only 7 percent said they are unfriendly.

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