While Tuesday’s election results brought bad news for Democrats both across the state and nationwide, they brought a mixed bag for the Arab community in Dearborn and Dearborn Heights.  

The resounding victory of Mariam Bazzi who came in first in a field of 11 candidates for the Dearborn School Board, with a total of 9,038 votes, was great news for this community. As was the second place showing of Dr. Michael Meade, who won a total of 7,872 votes.  

Like Bazzi, Meade was endorsed by the Arab American Political Action Committee (AAPAC) and his numbers show a solid support in East Dearborn, where Arab Americans represent a large portion of the voting population.  

Bazzi, an attorney, is not only Arab American, but she has also been a publicly involved member of our community, leading AAPAC for the last four years. She never hid either her Arab roots or her Muslim faith. Neither did she shy away from leading, even on what could be termed as “controversial Arab issues.”  

Yet, she received support across all segments of Dearborn, which shows that voters in this city are getting more and more comfortable in casting their votes for Arab Americans, as long as they are qualified.  

Non-Arabs in Dearborn can be credited with being open-minded and moving beyond the ethnicity of a candidate to his or her qualifications to serve.

However, our community seems to be stuck in an ethnically protective zone, where we vote for pretty much any Arab on the ballot. Take, for example, Dearborn School Board candidate Ahmad Harhara, who garnered 1,618 votes without organizing any campaign or appearing at any forum.  

He may be a great person and well-fit to serve, but he is not known at all. His votes were concentrated in east Dearborn and are likely a result of “ethnic voting” by Arab Americans.  

Ethnic voting is wrong whether done by Arabs or non-Arabs. Activists in this community spent the last 20 years convincing Dearborn and Dearborn Heights voters to cast their ballots for qualified Arabs and Muslims. We should not practice what we fought in the past today by voting only for Arabs, regardless of their qualifications.  

Along the same lines, Arab Americans should think twice before jumping into political races just for the sake of running. While this is a free country, and no one has the right to tell people to run or not to run, when an ethnic person places his or her name on the ballot, the candidate carries an important responsibility. 

Candidates will automatically become the face of the community; and if they are not qualified or run a poorly- organized campaign, they will reflect negatively on other Arab candidates. Further, when Arab candidates run and lose because they were not prepared, they may discourage other Arabs from running. This is not to say that people should run only when they can win, but they should run only when they are prepared for the campaign and the office they seek. 

Of course, if the community does not turn out in good numbers, qualified Arab Americans will lose races, despite organizing professional campaigns. That’s happened with Ghinwa Karkaba in Dearborn and Zeinab Hussein in Dearborn Heights.  Karkaba’s loss could also be attributed to the scattering of Arab votes among four candidates for three seats, which is another factor to keep in mind when the community presents more candidates than available seats.

Based on our demographic analysis of the precincts, The Arab American News estimates that around 25 percent of registered Arab American voters in Dearborn voted on Nov. 4. 

In an election that directly impacts our school and our future, this tally is shameful. National turnout on Tuesday was 34 percent. As a scrutinized community that suffers profiling, civil rights violations and media attacks, we have a lot at stake in each election. We should be role models in practicing our right and responsibility to vote. To fall 9 percentage points below the national turnout, which is already low, is unacceptable. 

Another interesting race last Tuesday was the campaign for 19th District Court Judge in Dearborn.  Former Magistrate Tony Guerriero challenged incumbent Judge Mark Somers. This campaign was marked by negativity and mudslinging from both camps. 

In a judicial race, candidates should refrain from personal attacks to preserve the integrity of the court. Judges are servants of the sacred concept of justice. The ad hominem attacks in this past race are contrary to the higher ideals of our justice system. Whether the candidate themselves or their supporters were responsible for those attacks, we object to their methods. 

Most notable was the role Dearborn Mayor Jack O’Reilly played in this race. Not only did he back away from Somers after endorsing him the past, he also spearheaded Guerriero’s campaign by sending two letters to the voters directly attacking the incumbent.  

Somers’ win is a clear setback to the mayor, who has already been subject to criticism on multiple issues. Not the least of which is the costly city hall move.  

Numbers show that Somers’ slight edge (he won by a mere 85 votes) was due to his large support in the Arab community, especially after he was endorsed by AAPAC.  

AAPAC’s endorsement has clearly become the key to winning a District Court race in Dearborn, especially when it is a tight race.  In the three contested District Court races preceding this one, candidates backed by AAPAC won, sometimes by slim margins (Richard Wygonik in 2006 and Mark Somers in 2008).  

This proves not only the importance of AAPAC’s endorsement but also highlights the need for higher turnout in this community, especially when it comes to local races, not just in presidential years.

Finally, this election was the first one in which AAPAC in Dearborn built a large coalition involving unions and other groups to ensure that candidates it backed enjoyed city-wide support. This clearly paid off in the school board race.  

Hopefully seeking unity and working together across all segments of the city will be a mark of future political races, especially when our community fields qualified candidates and turns out in high numbers.