Wayne County election results: Council candidate who supports LGBTQ+ pride flag advances

A Hamtramck city council candidate who favors the flying of LGBTQ+ flags on government property came in third place among nine candidates in Tuesday's primary election running for three council seats. Lynn Blasey, a community arts worker, was one of six candidates to advance to the November general election.

Blasey garnered 813 votes, 15.37% of the total vote among the nine candidates, slightly ahead of Councilman and Mayor Pro Tem Mohammad Hassan, who earlier this year introduced a council resolution that passed unanimously in June banning the flying of LGBTQ+, political and religious flags on government property.

Hassan came in fourth place behind Blasey, with 809 votes, or 15.29%. Blasey was the only one of the nine candidates to publicly support LGBTQ+ flags. Voters could select three candidates. In November, the top three vote-getters of the remaining six candidates will become part of the six-member city council.

Some residents urged support for Blasey after the council's vote in June.

"Thank you to everyone that voted for me!" Blasey wrote on Facebook. "I appreciate your support."

Councilman Nayeem Choudhury earned the most votes in Tuesday's primary, with 858 votes (16.22%), followed by Councilman Mohammed Alsomiri, 853 votes (16.12%); Blasey, 813 votes, (15.37%); Councilman Hassan, 809 votes (15.29%); Muhtasin Sadman, 689 votes (13.02%), and Nasr Hussain, 427 votes (8.07%).

Eliminated were the bottom three vote-getters: Yousuf Saed 395 votes (7.47%); Sari Ahmed 291 votes (5.50%); Ruhel Amin 113 votes (2.14%). The results of the November election will depend in part on who their supporters turn out for among the six who advanced.

The candidates reflected the changing demographics of Hamtramck: All of them are Muslim except for Blasey. Hamtramck has the only all-Muslim city council in the U.S.

Also in Hamtramck, voters soundly rejected a schools millage renewal of 3 mills over the next decade, which is less than the current 4 mills rate. It was defeated 66.56% to 33.44%. The mill renewal would have raised $760,000 to build or repair schools buildings. The proposal was supported by Hamtramck Schools Superintendent Jaleelah Ahmed, but some residents concerned about high taxes opposed it.

Voter turnout in Hamtramck was 19.13%, higher than the 16.61% turnout in Wayne County overall.

Hamtramck was one of several communities that held primary elections Tuesday. Here's a look at some of the results in Wayne County:

Westland

Westland Mayor Michael Londeau earned 44.5% of the vote among six candidates in the race for mayor, followed by state Rep. Kevin Coleman, D-Westland, at 41.13%. The two will advance to the November general election.

Selected by the council to became mayor in January after the resignation of longtime Mayor Bill Wild, 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, WXYZ-TV reported. The police chief also resigned earlier this year after videos surfaced that critics said showed him being abusive.

Dearborn Heights

Dearborn Heights City Councilman Mo Baydoun, who gained support recently among Arab Americans for canceling an event with a state senator because of a recent trip to Israel, was the top vote-getter, garnering 3,593 votes (26.02%) among nine candidates running for three seats on the seven-member city council. Dearborn Heights is about one-third Arab American and seven of the nine council candidates were of Arab descent.

Baydoun is one of six candidates who advanced to the November general election. The others are: former interim mayor Denise Malinowski Maxwell, 22.43%; Councilman Ray Muscast, 19.17%; former Councilman and Treasurer Zouher Abdel-Hak, 9.07%; Hassan Saab, 8.82%; Ahmad Alkaabi, 5.31%.

More: State senator representing Dearborn apologizes to Arab Americans after visiting Israel

Baydoun, co-owner of The Custard Company, had planned to host a meet and greet event at the ice cream shop with state Sen. Sylvia Santana, D-Detroit, whose district includes Dearborn Heights and Dearborn. But Baydoun canceled it after he found out Santana had recently traveled to Israel on a trip facilitated by the Jewish Federation of metro Detroit, community advocates said. Santana later apologized to her Arab American constituents for the trip, made amid an escalation of settler attacks on Palestinian civilians in recent months and a broader wave of violence that gained momentum after an Israeli hard-line government took office in December.

Riverview

Supporters of marijuana legalization are cheering after voters on Tuesday rejected a ballot proposal to block recreational sales of weed in Riverview. Voters rejected the proposal 52.37% to 47.63%.

Also in Riverview, Mayor Andrew Swift and Chuck Norton were the top two vote-getters among three mayoral candidates, with 54.10% and 40.92% of the vote, respectively. They will compete against each other in the November general election.

Complete Wayne County election results can be viewed at waynecounty.com/elected/clerk.

Contact Niraj Warikoo: nwarikoo@freepress.com, Facebook.com/nwarikoo, Twitter @nwarikoo.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Wayne County election results: Blasey advances in Hamtramck