Hamtramck City Council to remain only all-Muslim council in US as LGBTQ+ candidate loses
Hamtramck City Council will remain the only all-Muslim council in the U.S. after a community arts worker, Lynn Blasey, came in fourth place in a six-person race for three council seats. Mayor Pro Tem Mohammed Hassan, one of three incumbent city councilmen running for reelection, was the top vote-getter among the six candidates, according to results from the city clerk.
Hamtramck voters also narrowly rejected a ballot proposal the council supported that would have raised the annual salaries of city council members by 200% and the mayor's salary by 100%.
Hassan drew national scrutiny earlier this year when he introduced a council resolution in June that passed unanimously that banned the display of LGBTQ+ flags on city property. Since it passed, Hamtramck has seen a wave of attacks against LGBTQ+ flags, symbols and people, according to residents and activists.
If elected, Blasey would have been the only LGBTQ+ candidate on the council, the only woman, the only one who supports pride flags on city property and the only non-Muslim. Blasey had earned more votes than Hassan in the August primary, but Hassan rose to first place Tuesday. All of the city council members and the mayor will remain Muslim men.
Hassan garnered 1,618 votes, 21.9% of the total. Another incumbent, Councilman Mohammed Alsomiri, came in second place with 1,309 votes, 17.7%, and challenger Muhtasin Rahman Sadman, a political newcomer, came in third with 1,238 votes,16.8%.
Blasey came in fourth place, with 1,156 votes, 15.65%, just 82 votes below Sadman. Councilman Nayeem Choudhury came in fifth with 1,118 votes, 15.1% and Nasr Saleh Hussain, who stirred controversy by asking whether the Holocaust was a just punishment, came in last place with 887 votes, 12%.
Hassan refused to comment Tuesday afternoon while outside a polling site at Hamtramck High School, saying he does not talk to the news media. Hassan has not returned emails and phone calls from the Free Press this year about his flag resolution or other issues in Hamtramck.
Other candidates seen campaigning Tuesday at the school were Blasey, Choudhury, who was driving in a van with Palestinian flags waving, and Sadman.
Hamtramck voters also rejected a proposal that would have allowed city council members to run for mayor and the mayor to run for city council without resigning 60 days before the filing deadline, as is currently required.
Other Wayne County results
In other Wayne County election results that were available, state Rep. Kevin Coleman, D-Westland, a former Westland city councilman, was elected mayor of Westland with 59% of the vote over interim Mayor Michael Londeau.
"I believe Westland needs a mayor who knows government and how to deliver results for all of us that live here," Coleman told the Free Press earlier this year. "My experience at the state and local levels will allow me to take Westland to the next level of great services, new businesses and amenities while keeping Westland a safe, secure community."
Londeau faced some controversy earlier this year for comments at a roast seen as racist and raunchy. He later apologized for the remarks, saying he was young and immature.
In Livonia, incumbent Mayor Maureen Miller Brosnan won with 56% of the vote over challenger Councilwoman Kathleen McIntyre, who got 44%. Brosnan was elected in 2019 and previously served on the city council.
Though nonpartisan, the race has been seen as a contest between liberals and conservatives. Brosnan was supportive of flying the LGBTQ+ flag outside City Hall and was sympathetic in 2020 to peaceful BLM protesters while McIntyre had criticized both and was endorsed by a former state Supreme Court justice who is conservative, Kurtis Wilder.
In Melvindale, Nicole Shkira, a former city councilwoman and council president, upset incumbent Mayor Wheeler Marsee Jr. by 51% to 48%. Some police unions had endorsed Shkira earlier this year after expressing concern with Marsee, reported the News-Herald.
In Inkster, defense attorney Byron Nolen, who was the city’s mayor from 2015-19, defeated Mayor Patrick Wimberly, who faces a federal bribery charge, 58% to 40%.
In Dearborn Heights, there were three open city council seats with six candidates running.
City councilman Mo Baydoun was the top vote-getter, garnering 4,085 votes, 30.2%, followed by former city council chair Denise Malinowski Maxwell, who got 3,659 votes, 27%. In third place was Hassan Saab, who got 1,742 votes, 12.9%.
The results mean that Dearborn Heights will continue to have a Muslim-majority city council. In September, Dearborn Heights, which census data shows is 39% Arab American, became the second city in Michigan to have a Muslim-majority city council after Zouher Abdel-Hak was appointed to the council to replace Ray Muscat, who resigned in August, the Press & Guide reported. Abdel-Hak was on the ballot Tuesday, but failed to make the top three. Four of the seven city council members will be Muslim after Tuesday's election; in 2021, Mayor Bill Bazzi became the first Muslim mayor in the history of Dearborn Heights.
Baydoun drew attention earlier this year when he canceled an ice cream social with state Sen. Sylvia Santana, D-Detroit, because she visited Israel, said community leaders.
Contact Niraj Warikoo: nwarikoo@freepress.com, Facebook.com/nwarikoo or X @nwarikoo
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Hamtramck City Council to remain all-Muslim as LGBTQ+ candidate fails
