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Mayor Karen Majewski
Hamtramck Mayor Amer Ghalib, a Muslim of Yemeni descent with socially conservative values, rode into office in 2022 after defeating liberal Mayor Karen Majewski.
Last year, Ghalib and the all-Muslim city council pushed through a controversial resolution banning Gay Pride flags on city property, angering some in the eclectic city, particularly those in the LGBQT+ community.
Now, he's caused a stir by formally endorsing ex-President Donald Trump, some in the community see as the antithesis of what Hamtramck stand for.
The New York Times in a story published Saturday, titled "A Muslim Mayor Endorses Trump, and a City of Immigrants Finds Itself Undone," notes that some are upset with Ghalib's endorsement including ex-Mayor Majewski.
When the Times asks how she and her friends feel about the endorsement, she responds:
“Disillusioned, pissed off. There’s a lot of outrage and a lot of disgust.”
Majewski goes on to tell the Times that liberals have largely stopped going to City Council meetings because their voices were not being adequately heard. “The feeling is pretty much, why bother?” she said.
Donald Trump and Mayor Amer Ghalib
Ghalib isn't the only local Arab American mayor to back Trump. Dearborn Heights Mayor Bill Bazzi, a Lebanese American Muslim, has gotten behind the former president.
Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud, who has been highly critical of the Biden administration's policy on Israel, is urging voters of his city to "vote their moral conscience," according to The Hill.
'When you get to the top of the ticket, what I am advocating for is that you vote your moral conscience, and for each individual that's going to mean something different. But I am leaving it up to them."
