Growing up the son of Yemeni immigrants in a low-income neighborhood in the south end of Dearborn, Nagi Almudhegi went on to graduate from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor with a chemical engineering degree, finding success as an IT manager and engineer managing projects that he said saved companies millions of dollars. And now, Almudhegi, 51, wants to apply his skills to managing the city of Dearborn as he challenges Mayor Abdullah Hammoud, 35, running for a second four-year term.
“I want to get back to a little bit more of common sense from our leadership,” Almudhegi, 51, told the Free Press in an interview Friday, Oct. 24. “Growing up in a poor neighborhood and then living the American dream, I want to give back now to the the average Joes who don’t necessarily have a voice. … We want to just be able to live in a peaceful, safe neighborhood and have reliable city services. Over the last few years, I’ve just seen a degradation in our standard of living here for the ordinary, average resident. One of the biggest reasons why I put my name there for the election is to go back to a safe and secure Dearborn.”
Almudhegi, who launched his campaign in February, has been hammering Hammoud this year on crime, blight, and wasteful spending, describing him as a “career politician” who has become divisive and out of touch with residents, with a salary higher than the governor. He worries that Hammoud is giving Dearborn a bad name nationally with some of his recent remarks and actions as the city’s population declined 2.3% from 2020 to 2024.
“When it comes to public safety, I’m sorry, but we’re going to have to get a lot tougher,” Almudhegi said. “The reckless driving is out of control, and we need to have policies again that make sense, and we’re going to get it under control. And it’s going to start with making sure that we have enough police officers, and that the police officers that we have are actually patrolling the streets, not sitting behind the desk.”
Hammoud this year has often touted the city’s efforts in reducing crime, saying they plan to hire more police officers and that burglaries, robberies and home invasions are down. Hammoud’s latest campaign video, posted Oct. 23 on Instagram, ends with the message: “Lower Crime, Real Results.” Hammoud has also defended the city spending $720,000 on a contract for a real-time video monitoring program Almudhegi fears could lead to surveillance and some worry could target pro-Palestinian protesters.
Elected in 2021 with 54.6% of the vote, Hammoud, at the time a state representative, upset then-Council President Susan Dabaja and other candidates in the primary and then beat former state representative Gary Woronchak in the general election after flooding that summer outraged residents who blamed Dabaja and City Hall for the thousands of homes damaged. Speaking last month on Sept. 20, Almudhegi slammed Hammoud for not announcing plans to solve the city’s flooding problems, which he had vowed to tackle when he ran for mayor. A few days after Almudhegi’s rally, Hammoud held a news conference, saying the city is working on several projects to alleviate any future flooding problems.
Another big issue that has sprung up during the campaign in recent months is how to create unity in Dearborn as the city’s demographics shift. During Hammoud’s first term, census data revealed that a majority of Dearborn’s population was of Arab descent for the first time in its history, becoming the only Arab-majority city in the United States. Hammoud was criticized by Almudhegi last month after the mayor blasted a Christian minister speaking at a council meeting in objection to street signs renamed after an Arab American advocate, telling the minister he’s not welcome and that Hammoud would throw a parade when he left the city.
“You have to be able to talk to people whom you disagree with,” Almudhegi said. “I love talking to people. I love talking, having discussions with people who who disagree with me. … But unfortunately, this current administration and my opponent, he behaves in a way that basically divides people and tells people, ‘you’re not welcome here.’ What mayor actually would do something like that that makes absolutely no sense. It’s very unprofessional to tell a resident: ‘You don’t belong here, we’ll throw a parade.’ … I would never, ever say that in a million years.”
Hammoud has not responded to news media outlets about his remarks, but addressed the controversy at a council meeting on Sept. 23, saying the city has had to deal with bigoted attacks over the years.
The mayor’s position, as with its city council and clerk’s positions, are nonpartisan. But partisan politics has played a part in the campaign and public perceptions of the two mayoral candidates. Hammoud is a progressive Democrat who has supported Bernie Sanders, but did not endorse Kamala Harris last year due to her support for Israel, angering some Democrats. Trump won Dearborn, as Harris failed to win over Arab American voters in the city. Almudhegi supported Trump, and Republicans attended his campaign kickoff in support, including Tudor Dixon, the 2022 Republican nominee for governor, and Hamtramck Mayor Amer Ghalib. But Almudhegi said he’s now an independent.
“Most of my support is probably not even coming from the Republicans,” Almudhegi said. “Most of the people that I talk to on the street are not Republicans; they’re independent. … I don’t want to be beholden to any particular political party, so if one party says something stupid, I don’t want to be forced to defend something stupid.”
Hammoud in February, while speaking at the American Moslem Society, a historic mosque in the south end of Dearborn, said he’s not supporting the Democratic or Republican parties.
“I think last year (2024), we demonstrated, I’m not here to advocate on behalf of the Hizb Democratee (‘Democratic Party’ in Arabic) or the Hizb Jumhuriyya (Republican Party),” Hammoud told congregants of the mosque in a speech posted online. “I didn’t endorse Joe Biden, Kamala Harris or Donald Trump. … I’m here to tell you that neither party don’t care for you. And so what we need to do is put Dearborn first, and that’s what we’re doing.”
Hammoud’s remarks on Feb. 15 at the American Moslem Society were part of an attempt by him to win over conservative Muslims who had voted for Trump, in part over social issues. The Dearborn mayoral election may mark the first time in the history of the United States that both of the candidates running for mayor are Muslim, but they have differing visions of how their faith intersects with politics. In Hamtramck, both of the mayoral candidates on the November ballot are also Muslim. Hammoud and Almudhegi have both spoken about religion in public settings, with Hammoud increasingly public about his faith this year as he tries to reassure Muslims he is observant, posting about his Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca.
2022 controversy over books shapes mayoral race
Three years ago on a Sunday afternoon, Almudhegi stood on the steps of Henry Ford Centennial Library at a rally against some LGBTQ+ books in Dearborn public schools he and others saw as too sexually explicit for children.
“I’d like to start off first of all with a prayer,” Almudhegi said at the Sept. 25, 2022, rally. “And I’m going to read the chapter on Fatiha (opening of Quran) in Arabic and then I will read the English translation. … I seek refuge in God Almighty, from Satan, the cursed one, in the name of God, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful. Guide us to the straight path, the path of those whom You have blessed, and not those whom you are angered with, nor those whom are astray.”
The day after that protest, Hammoud released a statement supporting the books.
“The same dangerous ideology that once considered people like me ‘a problem’ in Dearborn is now being revived under the guise of preserving liberty,” Hammoud said in his statement defending the LGBTQ+ books. “When it comes to our city’s libraries, for the sake of our children, no book will be removed off the shelves.”
Hammoud’s statement in 2022 in support of LGBTQ+ books drew condemnation from Republican activists and some conservative Muslims in Dearborn, who felt his views were at odds with their beliefs. A few weeks later, on Oct. 10, 2022, hundreds of protesters packed a school board meeting and shut it down in protest of the books.
Three years later, on Sept. 20, Almudhegi spoke again in front of the same library, outlining his vision if elected mayor and touched upon the 2022 rally. He said his experience after that compelled him to run for mayor.
“Three years ago, we had a rally here and I actually was part of that rally, where we protested certain materials that was in our public schools,” Almudhegi said in September. “And I almost lost my job because of that. We and a bunch of other parents said … some of this material is not appropriate for children. My opponent (Hammoud) disagreed and were attacked viciously. … I’m not going to make any apologies for standing with parents. … And the fact that in the United States of America, you are not able to speak your mind and they’re coming after you for your work, get you fired, make things difficult for you, was one of the reasons I decided to run for mayor in the first place.”
Hammoud found himself under fire after his 2022 statement in support of LGBTQ+ books and since has been publicly stressing his faith, trying to prove he is authentically Muslim. At the February town hall, Hammoud spoke alongside Dearborn City Council President Michael Sareini, who’s running for reelection, and Police Chief Issa Shahin, the first Muslim police chief in Dearborn. In his February remarks, Hammoud said his September 2022 statement in support of LGBTQ+ books was misinterpreted, saying he does not personally support anything that may conflict with his own values.
“There’s a statement that I made a few years ago, and many people were upset,” Hammoud said. “A lot of people, I think, misinterpreted what I intended to say. I do not endorse anybody’s lifestyle. My responsibility is to take care for the city. The only thing I’m responsible for is the whole city of Dearborn and my own family. I have two daughters, Alhamdulillah (thanks be to God’ in Arabic), and I’m raising them the way that I was raised. … I don’t endorse anybody’s lifestyle which does not align with how I raise my lifestyle.”
Hammoud, using religious phrases in Arabic, then touched upon Islamic teachings, saying it doesn’t interfere on what people do in their own homes.
“Honestly, Allah, Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala, tells you what you do in your own household is between you and Allah, Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala,” Hammoud said, using the Arabic words for “God” and “May He be glorified and exalted.”
“My point is: I care for the whole city, to make sure that city services are delivered,” Hammoud added. “When you have issues of property taxes, nobody’s lifestyle matters when it comes to talking about property taxes. When you want to make investments in the parks, what matters is not anybody’s lifestyle, what matters is: Are we making investments in the parks? When you talk about crime and safety, what matters is our police responding. What doesn’t matter is what people are doing in their own privacy of their home. I do not care for that. I don’t endorse any of that. And I’m not here to endorse it. Unfortunately, people took a statement out of context. I wish I could have responded. It was also an election year that year, and so everybody kept saying, ‘if he responds or says anything is because of the elections.’ “
Sareini also stressed his faith at the February event in the mosque, trying to explain a council resolution approved earlier in support of the LGBTQ+ community, saying the council passes similar resolutions for other groups and that he has gone on the Hajj pilgrimage.
“Did I vote against it?” Sareini told the congregation at American Moslem Society about the council resolution. “No, I didn’t vote against it. Did I offer (the council resolution)? Absolutely not. And I have five kids. I went to the Hajj. I did not endorse that. But I don’t down them (LGBTQ+ people). It’s not my business.”
At his September rally, Almudhegi spoke about Hammoud’s remarks in February in the south end mosque, saying he switches his views depending on his audience.
“Most career politicians, you have to look at them like actors,” Almudhegi said. “So when they go to a mosque in the south end, they’ll play the role of a conservative Muslim. And then they go somewhere else and they’ll play the role of a progressive. … I call it hypocrisy.”
Brian Stone, a Dearborn resident who is gay and once ran against Hammoud for state representative, was disappointed with Hammoud’s remarks at the mosque, recently posting them on his Facebook page, saying they are anti-gay.
“I’m very concerned that our Mayor decided to share ignorant, homophobic comments that contradict the modern medical and psychological understanding of how sexual orientation works,” Stone told the Free Press. “Anytime someone chooses to espouse bigoted or hateful views, or starts punching down and taking potshots at the powerless, it alienates our city from the rest of the country and lowers us in the esteem of our countrymen. If this kind of hateful language proves to be politically helpful to the Mayor, then I think, unfortunately, we’re just going to see more of it in the future.”
Hammoud has also spoken about his faith at religious events in the Shia Muslim community during his time as mayor, linking the struggles of a grandson of Prophet Mohammed in the 7th century to the city he leads. His uncle is the religious leader of the Islamic Center of America, Dearborn mosque founded in 1963. Hammoud attended the 11th annual Ashura “March for Justice” in Dearborn, posting a video of himself at the event in which he said his family had a stall offering food and water to participants.
“Clearly, Dearborn is that community that understands what it means to take a stand for justice, which we’re extremely proud of, following in the footsteps of the grandson of the Prophet, peace by upon him,” Hammoud said in the video. He reiterated that message the next month at the annual Arbaeen procession, another Shia religious event, saying it’s important for Dearborn residents to march for justice.
“The message of the grandson of (Prophet Muhammad) is a message that is as relevant as it was 1,400 years ago,” Hammoud said on a sweltering Saturday in August. “We know that there are many injustices across this globe, from Gaza to Lebanon … to Iraq, to Yemen. And it’s important that we here in the city of Dearborn continue to march, to show individuals that Hussein is not only for the Shias, but he is for all of mankind.”
In his remarks in February, Hammoud also touched upon the diversity of Dearborn’s Arab American communities, referencing its Yemeni, Lebanese, Palestinian and Iraqi populations.
“Unfortunately, though, when we come here, we find ways to divide ourselves,” Hammoud said.
Hammoud was born in Michigan to immigrants from Lebanon and Almudhegi immigrated from Yemen at the age of 6 along with his family. The Yemeni American community has struggled to acquire political power in the city, where there has never been a council member of Yemeni descent. Hammoud has strong support among Lebanese Americans while Almudhegi has a base of support among Yemeni Americans, their campaign finance reports show. Yemerican PAC, a Yemeni American political action group, endorsed Almudhegi last month. But Almudhegi stresses he’s fighting for all of Dearborn.
“This identity politics, we’re going to have to throw that in the dustbin,” Almudhegi said. “It’s tearing people apart. … I want to live in a color-blind society. And, ultimately, it’s your character and how you treat people. … I don’t care if you’re old, young, rich, poor, white, black, Christian, Muslim. … Every single resident is welcome here in Dearborn, and we’re going to work together.”
Contact Niraj Warikoo: nwarikoo@freepress.com, X @nwarikoo or Facebook @nwarikoo
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud faces challenge from engineer Nagi Almudhegi as race heats up
Reporting by Niraj Warikoo, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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