DEARBORN — Arab Americans flocked to the polls on Election Day to support local candidates, but a lack of enthusiasm for any of the presidential candidates resulted in a lower turnout in Dearborn compared to the 2012 election. 

The community celebrated a major milestone with Democrat Abdullah Hammoud’s win in the race for the 15th District State House seat, where he nabbed 61.6 percent (21,739) of the votes over the Republican candidate, WWE star Terrance Guido Gerin.

The Arab community was also able to boast about the Dearborn School Board race, where Hussein Berry and Fadwa Hammoud won seats with 16,303 and 15,913 votes. Jim Thorpe received 19, 314 votes for the board’s partial term.

The school board victories also extended into Dearborn Heights, where Nadia Berry celebrated a commanding first place win on the Crestwood School Board. The second open seat there went to incumbent Ed Garcia. 

In the Dearborn judge’s race, attorney Gene Hunt narrowly beat City Council President Susan Dabaja with 17,403 votes (50.4 percent) to her 16,982 votes (49.1 percent).

In Dearborn, Democrat Ish Ahmed received the most votes with running mate John Austin, with 30.3 percent and 29.7 percent, respectively, as members of the State Board of Education. However, Republicans Tom McMillin and Nikki Snyder won the two open seats with more votes across the state.

Dearborn police at the polls.

Election Day

The weeks leading up to Election Day involved heated races at both the local and national levels. The Dearborn Police Department had a heavy presence at the polls in an effort to minimize confrontations and conflicts at Dearborn’s 48 precincts.

Despite minor issues early on–which included accusations of voter fraud and interference at the polls– the day moved smoothly.

“We saw a Donald Trump supporter and it was civil,” said Zeinab Alhashemi, a campaign volunteers for Hussein Berry at Woodworth Middle School. “There was definitely a large number of Arab American voters, but they were mostly coming out to vote for the school board and the 19th District Court race.”

Final election reports show that almost 63 percent of Dearborn residents (24,940) voted for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, while 31 percent voted for Republican Donald Trump (12,171). The hate rhetoric spewed by Trump that often targeted the community may have been the reason why he lost in  Dearborn– despite his victory in the state and his presidential win.

In heavily dominated Arab east end precincts, Clinton outpaced Trump an average of 5 to 1.

“The rhetoric with Trump has brought a lot of Arabs and Muslims too,” Alhashemi said. “A lot of them expressed their negative views against Hillary too, but they were thinking she’s the lesser of two evils.”

In West Dearborn, voters did seem to have the presidential race at the top of their priorities. Residents who voted at the First Presbyterian Church were concerned with the Supreme Court, foreign affairs, jobs and other issues when it came to voting for a presidential candidate.

Noah Alcodray said his biggest concern was the future of the Supreme Court.

“If you were disgusted with both candidates, then you could at least rest assured that if you were voting along party lines, the future of the Supreme Court would uphold that,” he said. 

Foreign policy was another important issue to Alcodray, as the Middle East is currently a war zone. 

“As individual candidates, especially with our community, where foreign policy was very important, you had to really dig deep and figure out between two liars who was going to be doing the most damage to where we came from,” he said. “Especially with the Middle East being a center of conflict, as of late.” 

One woman noted that her main concern was the economy and lack of jobs. 

“In my time in Michigan, I’ve just seen a depletion of jobs that are going away and also people are not being rewarded for the work that they do everywhere – our schools, our nursing homes, our institutions, our hospitals,” she said. “I hope the candidate I voted for will ultimately deliver the jobs and help us with the economy so our kids enjoy the kind of life we’ve been able to enjoy.” 

Carmen Gudan, a campaigner at Dearborn High School for Hussein Berry and Fadwa Hammoud, was outspoken about her support for Clinton as well. 

“On the one hand, we have a man that would be a dictator – he’s not a real Republican,” Gudan said. “And on the other hand, we have Hillary Clinton, who has all this experience and she would be the first female president. That’s historic. I’ve supported her from the beginning.”

But the community also definitely had its fair share of Trump supporters, many of them more silent about why they cast a vote for the now president-elect. 

“If you tell people here that you voted for Trump, they judge you,” said a woman who wished to remain anonymous. 

Campaigners at Salina School.

Local races

For the Arab American community in east Dearborn, most of the energy at the polls came from the support of the local candidates.

Campaigners for 19th District Court judge candidate Susan Dabaja, Dearborn School Board trustee candidates Hussein Berry, Fadwa Hammoud and Adel Mozip and State Rep. candidate Abdullah Hammoud had a heavy presence at the precincts. 

At Salina School in the Southend, Yemeni voters came out in record numbers to support the local candidates.

“This is the first time we’ve seen it as heavy as this,” said Ahmad Saaidi. “I’ve been doing this for 24 years and this is very good. Everyone here is like family to us. Even if we are not on the same side, everyone’s been respectful. It’s been a very nice atmosphere.”

Over at McDonald Elementary School, one of the voting machines had temporarily broken down, resulting in clogged up lines in the evening. But still, voters were willing to wait an extra few minutes just to cast a vote for their horse in the race.

“As far as the local elections, I think it’s personal for a lot of people,” said Claudia Bazzi, who campaigned at both McDonald and St. Alphonsus Elementary Schools for Fadwa Hammoud. “A lot of these candidates are our friends, so we are out here to support them. It’s been overwhelming, but in the greatest of ways. I am very proud to say the least.”

Ayda El-Saghir, who was campaigning for Berry at McDonald, said she was delighted to see Arab Americans at the polls, even with the lack of enthusiasm for the presidential race. 

“There are even some Arabs who are not casting a vote for a president at all,” El-Saghir said. “Some just came out to cast their votes for the local races. This is my second year campaigning and there have been a lot of votes. I’m happy to see people practice their rights to this extent.”

While Dabaja was not victorious in her tight race for Dearborn judge against Gene Hunt, her campaigners had a heavy presence at the polls. 

Aysha Zeben, a Dabaja volunteer stationed at Henry Ford Elementary, said some voters were discouraged early in the morning, once they witnessed how long the lines were.

“A lot of people actually left without voting saying they were going to come back, because the line was too long,” Zeben said.  “They needed to to get to work on time.”

But not all voters were coming out with just the candidates in mind. Some were actually concerned about the issues. 

As a mom, Nada Dakroub wanted to make sure local schools provide a quality education for kids.

“Honestly, just the education in Dearborn – the Board of Education – that’s who I was really coming out to vote for,” Dakroub said. “That’s the second most important besides the presidential candidates.” 

Arabs are usually more visible in the east end precincts, but some noted that they also had a heavier presence on the west side of town this time around.

Billal Amen, a campaigner for Abdullah Hammoud, said the traffic among Arabs at the polls busts any myth that the community is stagnant when it comes to voter turnout.

“Other immigrant communities can learn from Dearborn,” Amen said. “It’s more of the local race that drove them to vote. Just seeing how involved everybody is. People look at Dearborn and might say it’s dormant, but coming out here and seeing the activity, even in West Dearborn, you see Arabs everywhere.”