A Muslim Democratic mayor who runs a city just five miles outside of Detroit endorsed former President Donald Trump in the 2024 election.
Mayor Amer Ghalib, who was born in Yemen, has been leading the city of around 27,000 residents since 2021. The city of Hamtramck, Michigan, which has a sizable immigrant population, became the first in the nation to have a Muslim-majority city council in 2015. Forty percent of the city’s population was born in another country.
Ghalib shared on Facebook that he will be endorsing Trump for the presidency.
“President Trump and I may not agree on everything, but I know he is a man of principles,” Ghalib wrote. “Though it’s looking good, he may or may not win the election and be the 47th president of the United States, but I believe he is the right choice for this critical time.”
Ghalib says that he is willing to accept the “consequences” that may follow from his public endorsement of Trump.
Ghalib’s post comes after he met with Trump for about 20 minutes last week, and he shared with the Detroit News that they discussed Michigan and Wayne County’s voting statistics, the presidential debates, and Arab American issues, particularly the concerns of Yemeni Americans regarding the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Yemen.
The Detroit metropolitan area is home to the largest Arab population in the U.S., and many Arab leaders have been highly critical of how the Biden-Harris administration has addressed the Israel-Hamas war. They have accused President Joe Biden of assisting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his war efforts. As a result of the conflict that began on Oct. 7, millions of Palestinians have been displaced, children have been killed, and communities have been destroyed.
During the presidential primary, 100,000 people voted uncommitted in Michigan to protest Biden’s handling of the war, earning them two delegates at the Democratic National Convention. In total, there were 36 uncommitted delegates at the DNC. Advocates criticized planners of the convention when family members of a hostage were given a speaking slot but not a Palestinian American.
Since beginning her bid for president, Vice President Kamala Harris has worked to garner support from the Arab population, having hired an Egyptian-born Department of Homeland Security official to lead outreach and having met with the mayor of Dearborn, Michigan, last month. Dearborn is the largest city in the U.S. that has an Arab-majority population.
However, Harris has been unable to garner the support of the Uncommitted group.
“Vice President Harris’s unwillingness to shift on unconditional weapons policy or to even make a clear campaign statement in support of upholding existing U.S. and international human rights law has made it impossible for us to endorse her,“ the group said.
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But at the same time, the group has said it is against Trump, and it has urged voters to not vote for third-party candidates.
As a swing state, winning Michigan would be crucial for both Harris and Trump in their road map to winning 270 electoral votes.