Arab, Muslim voters mobilized for election: 'The energy is different'

• Arab American and Muslim voters were politically engaged at historic levels, advocates said.
• The candidacy of Abdul El-Sayed played a role in energizing Muslim voters, but there were also many other Muslims on the ballot.
• "The energy is different," this year said attorney Abed Hammoud, who ran for Dearborn mayor 25 years ago in 2001.

Twenty-five years ago this week, in November 2001, Abed Hammoud was on the ballot in Dearborn, trying to become the first mayor of Arab descent in the city's history.

It was a couple of months after the Sept. 11 attacks, with anti-Muslim prejudice still lingering. Hammoud said he remembers voters saying, "we're scared, we're concerned" about Arabs and Muslims. Hammoud lost to Mayor Michael Guido, but 25 years later, the Dearborn attorney sees a new generation excited for the community's future, with numerous Arab American and Muslim candidates on the ballot, including Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate who won.

"It's a different landscape," Hammoud told the Detroit Free Press. "The energy is different."

That energy was seen Tuesday, Nov. 3, at poll sites in east Dearborn, where a majority of voters are of Arab descent. There were longer-than-usual lines at places like Salina Intermediate School in the south end of the city and McDonald Elementary School on the east side.

"I don't think I've seen this much enthusiasm in a very long time," Wali Altahif, of Dearborn, said outside the Salina school precincts. "The turnout is much, much better than I expected, better than I've seen. People are passionate about the issues."

As of 2 pm Tuesday, voter turnout in Dearborn was already greater than voter turnout during the 2022 November elections, according to a data analyst at the Arab American Institute.

History of Arab American political activism

Dr. Yahya Basha, a medical doctor with Basha Diagnostics in Royal Oak, has been a leader in Michigan's Arab American and Muslim community for more than 40 years. He has supported Republicans in Michigan, such as former Gov. John Engler and U.S. Sen. Spencer Abraham, but a decade ago, in 2016, he met with Bernie Sanders in Dearborn and endorsed him when he ran for president in the Democratic primary, winning Michigan with the help of Arab American voters. Sanders' outreach to the Muslim community in Michigan was the start of a relationship between the DSA (Democratic Socialists of America) and Muslim voters that led to victories by U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib in 2018 in metro Detroit and Mayor Zohran Mamdani in New York City. But in 2024, Basha met with Trump and endorsed him, amid anger in the Muslim community over President Joe Biden's handling of the Gaza conflict.

Basha played a key role in helping raise money for El-Sayed after he won the Democratic primary in August, defeating U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens. In August, Basha and other family members held a fundraiser at Maggiano's Little Italy for El-Sayed that he said raised about $1 million. Basha then contacted his friends in the Pakistani American community, who held a fundraiser at the home of Asad Malik, board member and former president of the Pakistani American Public Affairs Committee, in Oakland County the following month, September, that raised about $500,000, Basha said. El-Sayed attended both fundraisers. Basha said he also contacted friends in the Muslim community in Flint and Chicago, who raised hundreds of thousands of dollars more for El-Sayed.

Basha said he and others in the Muslim community were trying to counter the big money from Republicans and pro-Israel groups being spent to help Mike Rogers. They were disappointed in Trump's rhetoric this year, making fun of El-Sayed's name and mocking the name "Mohammed," which is El-Sayed's middle name and the name of Islam's prophet. After the Sept. 11 attacks, President George Bush visited a mosque, where he praised Muslims and Islam. But today, the tone from the White House is quite different.

During his victory speech in Detroit, El-Sayed referenced Trump's attacks on his name, saying: "Donald, look, I know you struggle with my name, so after (Vice President) JD (Vance) swears me in January, you can just go on and call me Senator."

"Unfortunately, Trump went too far with it," Basha said. "It definitely is a major distraction to talk about El-Sayed's religion and name, making fun of it. I like Trump's jokes. He's a massive, master media guy, but I hate to see that become (used) against somebody's name, ethnic origin."

Trump and the Rogers campaign repeatedly accused El-Sayed of being part of the Muslim Brotherhood, a claim that El-Sayed strongly denied. They also alleged he wanted to bring sharia, or Islamic law, to the U.S. El-Sayed has said that he's not pushing sharia on anyone, but that Muslims who practice sharia is no different from Catholics who may personally follow canon law. Rogers and Republicans also hammered El-Sayed for family ties they alleged were linked to terrorism, noting that his mother once worked for an Islamic charity raided by the FBI in 2004 and charged by the U.S. But his mother never was charged and in fact, it was a Republican Congressman from Michigan, former U.S. Rep. Mark Siljander, who was charged and sent to prison for his involvement with the same charity and later pardoned by Trump.

Osama Siblani, a longtime Arab American leader in Dearborn active for more than 40 years who's publisher of the Arab American News, also played a key role in helping mobilize voters and fundraising for El-Sayed. On Wednesday, Oct. 28, the group Siblani helped establish, Arab American Political Action Committee (AAPAC), held its annual banquet. El-Sayed attended and spoke, praising Siblani's work, saying he stood on the shoulders of leaders like him. On Sept. 20, a fundraiser Siblani helped organize at Bint Jebail Cultural Center in Dearborn helped raise $350,000 for El-Sayed.

Siblani supported Hammoud in 2001 and sees how much the community has progressed since then.

"I think we've come a long way," Siblani told the Free Press. "And I believe that this election is going to take us further. We have broken several ceilings; we opened many doors."

Siblani also noted that in addition to El-Sayed, there are now a number of Arab American candidates on the local level in places like Wayne County who are winning elections or party nominations in races for school boards, university boards, state legislators, judges, and city councils.

"We are moving forward, and I think our community is getting better at engaging, running for office, voting, the opportunity to be in public service," Siblani said.

Two years ago, in 2024, Mike Rogers called, texted, and met in person with Siblani as part of his efforts to win over Arab American voters as he ran for senator. Rogers lost that year in November to Elissa Slotkin.

But this year, Siblani was attacked by the Rogers campaign, which accused Siblani of being an extremist, attacks that he said have no factual basis.

Campaigns "should not be this way," Siblani said. "It should be about issues, not ethnicity, not religion. It should not be insulting people. It should be ... debating them on issues ... not based on racism."

On the final Friday before the election, El-Sayed visited several mosques in Wayne County, including the historic Islamic Center of America on Ford Road in Dearborn, Masjid Al-Salam (Dearborn Community Center), and the Islamic Institute of America in Dearborn Heights, where he delivered speeches during Friday prayers, the largest gathering time of the week for Muslims. El-Sayed spoke about spending money inside America instead of using it to fund wars in places like southern Lebanon and Gaza, areas that have ties to many Arab Americans in metro Detroit. El-Sayed's campaign also set up several small groups to gain the votes of specific communities, such as 'Yemenis for Abdul' and 'Iraqis for Abdul.' Many in those two ethnic groups had voted for Trump in 2024, but supported El-Sayed in the August primary, precinct results show.

Maya Berry, a Dearborn native who is executive director of the Arab American Institute, has been working to help mobilize Arab American voters for decades. She said that the anti-Arab and anti-Muslim attacks this year have helped boost turnout and political engagement. On Sunday, there were 1,824 voters who cast ballots during early voting, the highest one-day total for early voting in Dearborn history, Berry said.

"The unprecedented level of bigotry emanating from the highest office of this land ... is being met with a beautiful level of voter engagement," Berry said.

Hammoud said that people across Michigan were excited for El-Sayed not because of his background, but his qualifications.

"If he wasn't good and qualified, he would not be neck and neck with Rogers, despite all the money spent against him," Hammoud said. "It's showing the country that a guy named Abdul, a Muslim guy, can be so strong and so good that the Democratic Party is pushing all behind him for him to win the Senate race in Michigan."

Voter turnout in Deaborn was 57% (56.92%), 45,460 votes cast, higher than in recent elections. The number of Dearborn voters who cast ballots in previous November elections were: 44,997 voters in 2020; 31,269 in 2022; 42,923 voters in 2024; 26,926 voters in 2025, when mayoral and council elections were held.

Contact Niraj Warikoo: [email protected], X @nwarikoo, or Facebook @nwarikoo