In Texas, Muslim voters mobilize against anti-Muslim rhetoric
.jpg "Muslims pray at a mosque during Friday prayers, in Plano, on April 11, 2025. Muslim Texas say they have become more politically active due to anti-Muslim hate.")
Mohammed Ayachi was 3 when the 9/11 terrorist attacks occurred. In fifth grade, he was asked by a teacher how many mothers he had. Now an entrepreneur, he says he gets strange looks when he tells his customers his name.
Fatima Khan, who wears a hijab, was eating at a pizza restaurant with her family when they were approached by a man cursing and screaming at them.
Aftab Siddiqui was called a terrorist and told to “go back home.” He has lived in Texas for 30 years.
Muslim Texans say they have felt anti-Muslim hate since 9/11, but that it has risen significantly from politicians running their campaigns from an anti-Muslim viewpoint.
“They just want everybody to get gung ho and go after a witch hunt. This is basically just the Salem witch trials all over again,” Ayachi said.
Ali Anwar was at a local Republican Party meeting that featured a speech from Mayes Middleton, the Republican candidate for Texas attorney general. On May 4, Middleton put out an advertisement called “No Sharia in Texas,” where he said that he would outlaw Sharia Law.
Sharia Law is a set of religious principles for Muslims to follow. During the meeting, Anwar asked Middleton several specific questions regarding his policies on Sharia Law.
“I asked him, ‘Hey, what is this policy about traditional family values?’ He said that we support heterosexual relationships. I asked him about the explicit materials in the library books, and he said that we’re against it. So I kept asking him questions about abortion. He said that we’re against abortion,” Anwar said. “So I said, ‘You know that Sharia — that you are against, and trying to ban — also supports all of these points that you just stated.’”
Texas Attorney General and Senate candidate Ken Paxton also ran on an anti-Muslim campaign by filing a lawsuit against the Council of American-Islamic Relations, investigations into the Islamic Tribunal and ran ads accusing his opponent, Sen. John Cornyn, of supporting “Muslim mass immigration.”
How Muslims align politically
A study by the Pew Research Center in 2017 showed that about two-thirds of Muslims identified with the Democratic Party. Siddiqui said that political participation in the Muslim community has significantly increased over the years.
“Most of the Muslim voters have started voting against whosoever is targeting our community,” Siddiqui said.
Zeeshan Hafeez, who ran for the Texas House of Representatives as a Democrat, in 2026 agrees.
“Most Muslim voters are not going to vote for the Republican Party, who is making us the boogeyman,” he said.
Anti-Mulsim rhetoric in politics is not reserved for the national scale. In Frisco, mayoral candidate Rod Vilhauer called Islam a terrorist group. Aneela Charania, who just moved to Frisco from Austin a few months ago, called the campaign “heartbreaking and pretty disgusting.”
Charania said over time after 9/11, the perception toward Islam showed that it was a “beautiful, peaceful religion, just like any other religion.” She said the hate spread by politicians is because they “don’t know what else to do.”
According to the World Population review, Texas has over 300,000 Muslim residents, the fifth-highest amount in the United States.
“We as Muslims are definitely much more motivated now to go out and vote, because we want to ensure that those politicians who are trying to use hate and fearmongering as a means of distracting people from their day to day problems are not getting elected,” Charania said.
Inter-faith support for the Muslim community
Several civil rights groups and inter-faith organizations have condemned politicians for anti-Muslim hate.. Groups such as the Next Generation Action Network, Faith Power Alliance, and the First Unitarian Church Dallas all spoke at a press conference on June 2 in Grand Prairie in support of the Muslim community.
Last month Gov. Greg Abbot called for the cancellation of an event at Epic Waters water park in Grand Prairie celebrating Eid Al-Adha. The city canceled the event after Abbott threatened to take away state funding.
“If you look at us, we’re not looking for any special treatment. We’re looking for the same things that Americans want. We want fairness. We want opportunity. We want the American dream,” Hafeez said.
