A tectonic shift in Michigan politics culminated in Dearborn on Sunday, when hundreds of Muslims and Arabs gathered with Republicans to celebrate Nagi Almudhegi’s run for mayor.

In a city Democratic former President Joe Biden carried by 37 percentage points just five years ago, Almudhegi pitched his Trump-inspired America First bid to helm the first Arab-majority city in the U.S. to a roaring applause.

“Dearborn needs a mayor who is truly independent, someone who is not a rubber stamp for the political establishment,” Almudhegi said. “We need a leader who puts people over politics.

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“My friends and my fellow Americans I leave you with three things: Love God almighty with all your heart and soul, love your family, and love the U.S.A.!”

America First candidate for Dearborn mayor Nagi Almudhegi: “Too many career politicians see America as a resource to exploit, rather than a home to cherish and protect. But America is not a piggy bank, America is our home.” pic.twitter.com/x9BY3qi21b

— The Midwesterner (@Th_Midwesterner) February 24, 2025

The 50-year-old IT manager, political newcomer, and supporter of President Donald Trump highlighted priorities of fighting crime, flooding, and drug addiction in Dearborn, home to roughly 40,000 Arab Americans.

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“My vision is very simple for Dearborn when it comes to public safety. I want my mother and your mother, my wife and your wife, by daughter and your daughter, my niece and your niece, to be able to walk anywhere in Dearborn at any time and feel safe,” he said.

“I want my mother and your mother, my wife and your wife, my daughter and your daughter, my niece and your niece to be able to walk anywhere in Dearborn at any time and feel safe.” –Mayor candidate Nagi Almudhegi pic.twitter.com/1VU9gRtdvt

— The Midwesterner (@Th_Midwesterner) February 24, 2025

Almudhegi, who moved to the U.S. as a child, pointing to repeated flooding events in recent years as a significant ongoing problem, despite assurances from Democratic Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud and other city officials that they’re working to address the issue.

“These leaders are not actually solving the problems, they’re just giving us talk, talk, talk, and nothing gets done,” he said. “So we’re going to change that.”

The “raging drug epidemic” is also a problem “that is getting worse and worse, year after year,” Almudhegi said, noting drug overdoses in the U.S. have skyrocketed from roughly 5,000 annually in the 1980s to 105,000 just two years ago.

“That’s more American deaths … than the people we lost in Vietnam, more than the Iraq wars combined, more than the war in Afghanistan,” he said. “We’ve lost more Americans to this drug epidemic than all of these wars put together.

“So we really need a concerted effort from everybody, community leaders, faith based institutions, masques, churches, schools, public schools, everybody. We need an all-hands-on-deck approach to get this situation under control.”

Almudhegi’s comments drew a roaring applause from hundreds who attended the Sunday event at Dearborn’s Fairlane Club, including 2022 GOP gubernatorial nominee Tudor Dixon, Hamtramck Mayor Amer Ghalib, and others who have played key roles in shifting many of the state’s Muslim and Arab American voters to the Republican Party.

In November, the Muslim and Arab-American-heavy Detroit suburbs of Hamtramck, Dearborn, and Dearborn Heights showed tectonic shifts from 2020, as well as from the 2022 midterms.

In 2020, Trump took 13.4% of the vote in Hamtramck, 24.2% in Dearborn, and 36.4% in Dearborn Heights, but Dixon made significant gains with Arab and Muslim voters in 2022, when she boosted those figures to 19%, 33.4%, and 34.2%, respectively.

The shift, fueled by opposition to graphic sexual books in schools led by both Dixon and Almudhegi, accelerated in 2024, due in large part to the Biden-Harris administration’s policies in Gaza.

In November, 42.7% of voters in Hamtramck voted for Trump, while that figure was 42.5% in Dearborn, and 44% in Dearborn Heights, securing a plurality win over Vice President Kamala Harris.

While Harris and Michigan Democrats largely ignored concerns from Arab and Muslim Americans about the conflict in Gaza, Trump promised peace and met with local political and religious leaders including Ghalib, who endorsed the 47^th POTUS.

“For the past year or so I have been talking to the media and tell them how the community is shifting, because of … aggressive behavior from one side toward our community, disrespect to our values and our principles, and so the community felt that they aligned with the other side more than their historic support for the past three, four decades” for Democrats, Ghalib said Sunday.

“So I think this will be reflected in the next election,” he said, “as we are here to encourage community engagement, and civic engagement. This is part of our goal.”

Dixon echoed the focus on protecting families and embracing shared values with the Republican Party, and how those issues and others align with Trump’s America First agenda.

“This is about us. This is about the people that we love. This is about the future of this state,” Dixon said.

Other notable attendees Sunday included Dearborn city councilmen Ken Paris and Kamal Alsawafy, Dearborn schools board member Hussein Berry, and Republican activists Stephanie Butler and Hassan Aoun.

Aoun is also attempting to run as a Republican for the mayoral post but was disqualified from the ballot by Dearborn City Cleark George Darany over his felony record, the Detroit Free Press reports.

Aoun filed a lawsuit to challenge the decision that’s set for a status conference before Wayne County Judge Brian Sullivan on April 7.

Democratic Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammound, a former member of the state House, was elected in 2021, and is running for re-election in 2025, when candidates for all seven city council seats and clerk will appear on the ballot, as well.