Arkansas Secretary of State candidate Kelly Grappe was just doing the good candidate thing when she accepted an invitation to speak to a group of Americans who happened to be Muslims, she said.
“It was just something you do when you’re running for office — accepting invitations, meeting voters, listening to their needs and sharing what we’re about. And so, we did that with the Arkansas Muslim community and somehow it caused some people to be very interested, to say the least,” said Grappe, a Democrat, shortly after the August encounter.
Kelly Grappe
Grappe said it took her a week to write about the experience, not because she doubted her decision to meet with her Muslim neighbors, but because “every time I sit down to write, I feel like I’m being asked to defend my fellow Arkansans against fear, misinformation and hate — including from people in positions of leadership. And I’m tired of it.”
The cause of that interest no doubt coincided with the predictable Islamophobic rhetoric among Republicans anytime state and federal elections draw near — and this year has been no exception.
Conservatives in Congress went into a frenzy earlier in 2026 when U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama and other members of the Sharia Free America Caucus sought to spread alarm and hatred among voters about Islam’s supposed desire to take over American government, communities and values.
The vitriol continued as Texas Gov. Greg Abbot and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis started pushing anti-Muslim proclamations and legislation designed, they claimed, to prevent terrorist activities in their respective states.
DeSantis promoted a bill that would prevent terrorist groups from, among other things, funding Florida schools.
“To uphold the rule of law, our state must operate under one legal system, the Constitution must remain the law of the land, and we must defend our institutions from those who would harm us — especially terrorist organizations that seek to infiltrate and subvert our education system,” he said.
In Arkansas, House Resolution 1016 — the Arkansas Property Rights Protection from Sharia Law Act — died in committee in April but not before stirring up controversy with its goal of targeting Muslim-involved real estate developments by labeling them as efforts to expand Islamic control in the state.
Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders took to social media a short time later to assure residents she will stand strong on the issue. “In our state, you cannot replace Arkansas law with Sharia law. We will not allow it. Period.”
President Donald Trump has raised the temperature most recently with attacks against Michigan U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, calling him a “jihadist” and comparing him to the 9-11 hijackers due to his Muslim faith. He added that El-Sayed should “have to go through a metal detector before he’s allowed to go into the Senate.”
Ali Khan
Muslims nationwide and in Arkansas have repeatedly denied such claims, but to no avail, said Ali Khan, a Little Rock physician and Muslim community member who hosted Grappe’s visit.
“In July, our own governor posted on Facebook and on Twitter really anti-Muslim posts about banning Sharia and not allowing Sharia to take over Arkansas, and insinuating Islam is a virus taking over Arkansas despite the fact we’re something like 0.6% of the population in Arkansas right now,” he said.
Grappe was invited to the gathering for the same reason other political candidates and government officials have been invited, which is to help them meet Muslims and learn they are not out to destroy the country, Khan said.
“With all of this anti-Muslim hatred out there, one way to react is to not engage and let the storm pass, and the other is to attempt engage with the community and our leaders in an open, transparent way, to invite them into the mosques and into our homes to build bridges and create a familiarity.”
And it just so happened Grappe accepted the invitation, he added. “I have emailed Sarah Huckabee Sanders an invitation, and obviously we have not heard back. We extended an invitation to (Republican U.S. Sen.) Tom Cotton, who is running for re-election (in Arkansas), but we have not heard back. But when we extended invitations in a nonpartisan way to some of the folks that are running on the Democrat side, we heard back and then they accepted our invitations, and Kelly was one of them.”
Muslims put forth the effort not only for their own safety but because they feel a belonging to the nation and want to make it better, Khan added. “About two-thirds of our communities are probably immigrants, but a third of our community is born and raised here and that proportion is increasing dramatically. So, we view ourselves within the tapestry of America. This is home for us.”
Grappe said her presentation to the Muslims gathered in Khan’s home was like that of any other campaign-related gathering during run-up to the November mid-terms, in which she faces Republican and Libertarian challengers.
“I basically share everything I do and what I’m about, and this wasn’t anything out of the ordinary.” Even the Oct. 15 debate between Grappe and her opponents stuck to issues of citizen-led ballot initiatives and election security.
But the online criticism Grappe received for meeting with Muslims provided a deeper understanding of the challenges those neighbors face, she said. “There’s so much misinformation and so much hate. This idea that Muslims are trying to make Sharia law the law of the land would be laughable if it weren’t so dangerous — especially because nobody making those claims can really define what it is.
“What really moved me was that when I would ask someone where they were from, probably 80% of them said, ‘Arkansas is my home.’”
Related:
Republican-fueled Islamophobia cited as cause of more attacks
Republican leaders won’t denounce Islamophobia
Study traces anti-Muslim campaign to Greg Abbott
Islamophobia is the next bogeyman | Opinion by Scott Gilliland