The inroads President Donald Trump made with Arab American and Muslim voters in Michigan in the 2024 election will be put to the test later this year as residents prepare for two mayoral elections: one in a town where a pro-Trump candidate is leading, and another whose leading candidate has said he’s “fed up” with all sides as it relates to the Israel-Gaza war.
Trump won over Arab Americans in Michigan last November, largely cementing his victory over former Vice President Kamala Harris by flipping the city of Dearborn, which has the proportionally largest Muslim population in the United States, for the first time in over two decades. He was the first Republican to win the city since former President George W. Bush in 2000.
This fall, the cities of Dearborn Heights and Hamtramck are preparing for general mayoral elections. In 2024, Trump won Dearborn Heights, which is not majority Muslim, and made significant gains in Hamtramck, which does have a Muslim-majority population.
Adam Alharbi is the front-runner to become the next mayor of Hamtramck, a win for Trump allies, as Alharbi is the former campaign manager of current Mayor Amer Ghalib. Ghalib, a Trump supporter, made history in 2021 by being elected the first Arab and Muslim mayor of Hamtramck, which has storied Polish roots. Ghalib is not running for reelection because Trump picked him as the U.S. ambassador to Kuwait.
Mo Baydoun, an outspoken Israel critic and current Dearborn Heights council chairman, is the front-runner to succeed Mayor Bill Bazzi. Like Ghalib, Trump picked Bazzi to serve as U.S. ambassador to Tunisia. Bazzi was the first Muslim mayor of Dearborn Heights and endorsed Trump because the president vowed to end the war in the Middle East.
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The statewide shift of Arab Americans in favor of Trump could largely be attributed to the Biden administration’s handling of the war between Hamas and Israel, which divided Democrats and the country as a whole. The Biden administration’s approach led to the rise of a small but determined “uncommitted” movement, which evolved into “Abandon Biden” and later “Abandon Harris” campaigns.
The movement, spanning several key swing states including Michigan, sought to prevent former President Joe Biden and later Harris from receiving delegate votes to force the administration to be tougher on Israel in its casualty-heavy response to the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack. The Uncommitted National Movement said it would not endorse Harris but opposed a Trump presidency, and many Democrats have blamed the effort for Democrats’ losses in 2024.
Ultimately, Harris received 22,000 fewer votes in 2024 than Biden did in the 2020 election in Michigan’s heavily Arab-American cities.
Trump significantly improved his favorability among Hamtramck voters in the 2024 election. In 2020, he received only 29.9% of the vote compared to Biden’s 68.8%. Just four years later, Harris won the city by only 3 percentage points, 46% to Trump’s 43%.
The president did not win in Dearborn Heights in 2020, but in 2024, Trump triumphed with 44% of the vote, compared to Harris’s 38%, and Green Party nominee Jill Stein, a favorite of the Uncommitted movement, received 15%. Trump’s victory was similar in Dearborn, where he won 43% of the vote and Stein had about 18%, her highest percentage in Michigan.
Hamtramck appears to stick with Trump as Dearborn Heights sees anti-Israel candidate rising
In Hamtramck, Alharbi and Councilman Muhith Mahmood will advance to the November election. Alharbi finished first with 53.6% of the vote compared to Mahmood’s 28.9%, according to the Detroit News.
The front-runner and former Ghalib campaign manager works at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in the Commerce Department. He is part of a group of Muslims in Hamtramck who have been close with Republicans and the Trump campaign in the last few years.
During Trump’s visit to Hamtramck in October 2024, Alharbi was in the front row at the then-presidential candidate’s rally with Ghalib and others, per the Detroit Free Press. He also met with Ghalib and retired Gen. Michael Flynn, the latter of whom served briefly in the first Trump administration.
In Dearborn Heights, however, the outcome was different.
Baydoun and Councilwoman Denise Malinowski Maxwell are advancing to the general election this November, with Baydoun netting more than 58% of the vote, per city results.
The council chairman has spent considerable funds in the race, raising $210,297 and spending $131,972. Some of his opponents have criticized the unusually high influx of cash in the race.
Baydoun has been an outspoken critic of Israel for some time, drawing national attention in 2023 when he canceled an event with Democratic state Sen. Sylvia Santana because of her trip to Israel.
He told the New York Times earlier this year that Arab Americans who hoped for change under the Trump administration are growing concerned due to Trump’s tariff and deportation policies, particularly the targeting of pro-Palestinian protesters and missile strikes in Yemen.
“We are totally fed up,” Baydoun, whose family was killed in a 2024 Israeli airstrike in Lebanon, told the outlet. “And by that, I mean we are fed up with all sides.”
The schism between current and potentially future leadership in Dearborn Heights is apparent. Bazzi did not endorse Baydoun and instead threw his support behind Lena Arzouni, who came in third and will not advance to the November ballot.
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“I will never endorse Mohamad Baydoun, who can not even run a meeting,” Bazzi said in the Detroit Free Press. “How can he run a city? His meetings are chaotic and keeps insulting the staff … He is focused on himself and his circle.”
The Washington Examiner reached out to Alharbi and Baydoun for comment.