UPPER SAUCON TOWNSHIP, Pa. — A Pennsylvania Republican Party mailer calls Democrat Meriam Sabih’s “Pakistani” playlist “radical” and sets it beside a “Made in America” playlist for Republican state Rep. Milou Mackenzie, days before their Tuesday, Nov. 3, rematch in the 131st state House district.
Democratic officials have called the mailer racist, and a Lehigh County commissioner who left the Republican Party this year called it insulting to voters. The playlist, which Sabih titled and posted on her own SoundCloud account about 10 years ago, holds Punjabi and Pakistani songs and a Sufi poem from the 1300s. The “Made in America” list the mailer credits to Mackenzie matches no SoundCloud account under her name.
Asked about state party Chairman Greg Rothman’s 2019 remark on anti-Muslim memes that “everyone should be treated with respect,” a party spokesperson told Spotlight PA: “We can’t control how insensitive people interpret the mailer.” Mackenzie, the mother of U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, has not posted about the mailer.
The mailer’s playlist card shows Sabih’s profile under the label “Al Jazeera columnist,” with a scrawled note calling it “Meriam’s actual account & playlist” and the word “terrible” crossed out in favor of “Radical.” Mackenzie’s side is labeled “Trusted State Representative.” The address side says it was paid for by the Republican Party of Pennsylvania.
Lehigh County Commissioner Ron Beitler, who was reelected as a Republican last year and switched his registration to independent in February, wrote Sunday: “This is insulting to voters, and everything wrong with modern political campaigns.” He said Mackenzie represents two municipalities in his district.
“I don’t know whether Mackenzie had any involvement in this mailer. But I think she should quickly and publicly distance herself from whatever this message appears to be,” Beitler wrote.
“You don’t engage in Islamophobia unless you are desperate and you know you are losing,” state Rep. Mike Schlossberg, D-132nd District, wrote Sunday.
Lehigh County Executive Josh Siegel wrote on Facebook: “From Mike Rodgers in Michigan to Milou Mackenzie here in Lehigh County – we’ve seen some of the most pathetic and disgusting Islamophobia and anti-Muslim messaging from Republican candidates.”
The Lehigh County Democratic Committee called on Mackenzie to retract the mailers and apologize.
Spotlight PA reporter Stephen Caruso shared a screenshot of Sabih’s playlist Friday. Its songs include “Mehndi Ni Mehndi,” a Punjabi wedding song; Pakistani pop; a Pakistan Peoples Party campaign anthem that became a wedding staple and a Sufi poem by Amir Khusrau. The playlist no longer appears on her account.
Another mail piece from the party calls Sabih “a former Al Jazeera columnist who advocated to release a known terrorist,” citing the Daily Times, a Pakistani newspaper, in 2020. Sabih’s Daily Times author page lists a Feb. 26, 2020, column, “Release of Prisoners and A Plea for Compassion.” Its summary says Aafia Siddiqui “stands a chance to be released on humanitarian grounds” if she is mentally ill or near the end of life and would not be a threat to society.
Siddiqui, a Pakistani neuroscientist, was sentenced in 2010 to 86 years in prison for the attempted murder and assault of U.S. officers and employees in Afghanistan, federal prosecutors said at the time. The FBI had earlier put her on its “Seeking Information – Terrorism” list.
The Daily Times page describes Sabih, a journalist from Upper Saucon Township, as “a columnist and former contributor for Al-Jazeera America,” a channel that closed in 2016. Pakistan’s Dawn calls her a “freelance journalist and contributor to Al-Jazeera America.”
The mailers also misspell Mackenzie’s name as “Mackenize” in two places, along with Toby Keith’s, and list Taylor Swift’s “You Belong With Me” as “You Belong To Me.” One piece says Sabih supports plans to raise income taxes by 48.4%; another lists a “48.8% tax increase plan.”
Mackenzie beat Sabih in 2024 with 57.2% of the vote in the district, which covers parts of Lehigh, Montgomery and Northampton counties. A State Navigate poll of 464 likely voters, taken Oct. 10-14, had Sabih ahead 51% to 46%.
Polls are open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 3. Mail ballots must reach county election offices by 8 p.m. that day.
