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The United States is home to approximately 1.5 million Armenian Americans. Armenia, the world’s oldest Christian nation, faced a horrific genocide at the hands of the Turks approximately 100 years ago. Today, the descendants of these survivors reside in swing states across the United States, and they vote.
In Michigan alone, there are 72,000 Armenian Americans. Pennsylvania has 48,000, Nevada has 35,000, and Arizona has 22,000. Now more than ever, these voters are looking for a candidate to champion their issues. In September of 2023, 120,000 Armenian Christians were ethnically cleansed from their homeland by Muslim Azerbaijan. Silence from the Biden-Harris Administration in the wake of the ethnic cleansing created unprecedented blowback from the Armenian American community. During Michigan’s uncontested Democratic primary, Armenians turned out in huge numbers, along with Arab voters, to vote “uncommitted” in protest of the Biden-Harris Admin. The Armenian effort was so successful that it garnered attention from the New York Times, BBC, Washington Post, Politico, USA Today, and Real Clear Politics.
Sadly, Republicans have been slow to capitalize on this opportunity. During the Republican Presidential primary, Vivek Ramaswamy was the only candidate who made an active effort to court these voters. Additionally, RFK Jr. courted Armenian American voters with great success by threatening Azerbaijan with sanctions. With Ramaswamy and RFK Jr. now actively campaigning for Trump, it is only natural that these surrogates should be deployed by the campaign to court this voting block.
While the Trump campaign remains disengaged, the Harris campaign has been working to try and earn back the support of these voters. On September 21st, Armenian Independence Day, Harris penned an open letter calling for the right of Armenians who were displaced by Azerbaijan to return to their homes. While Armenian Americans view the sincerity of the letter with skepticism, the silence from the Trump campaign does not provide them with a realistic alternative to Harris.
In practice, it would be relatively simple for the GOP to court these voters. Armenian-Americans are looking for a candidate who won’t tolerate further violence from Azerbaijan against the world’s oldest Christian nation, Armenia. During the ethnic cleansing, Harris showed that she is perfectly willing to remain silent in the face of such aggression. President Trump does not need to commit to putting boots on the ground or handing out more international aid. All that is needed is a clear message that under his administration, any further aggression by Azerbaijan would be met with sanctions. President Trump used this tactic masterfully to coerce Turkey into releasing Pastor Andrew Brunson.
Armenian Americans are looking for a champion. These 1.5 million voters are ripe for the picking; the only question is whether the GOP is astute enough to pursue them.
