DEARBORN – The young age of Dearborn’s mayor, Abdullah Hammoud, has prevented his nomination for U.S. vice president by the Green Party in the Nov. 5 presidential elections. Had it not been for this age restriction, Hammoud, of Lebanese descent, would have been the first Arab and the first Muslim to run for vice president in U.S. history.

Federal law requires that the vice president must be at least 35-years-old when taking the oath of office on January 20, according to the Constitution. This condition will not be met by Hammoud, who will celebrate his 35th birthday next March.

The Green Party’s presidential candidate, Dr. Jill Stein, met with Hammoud last week and told him in a zoom call that he was on the short list of potential candidates for vice president on her campaign. She requested that he undergo the Green Party’s vetting process in preparation for naming him as her running mate in November.

Jason Cole, Stein’s campaign manager, confirmed to The Arab American News that the veteran environmental activist and two-time presidential candidate had indeed met with the Dearborn mayor and proposed the idea of joining her campaign. However, the age requirement prevented further progress in this direction.

“When Stein learned that Mayor Hammoud would not meet the required age at the specified time, she broadened the invitation and asked him to consider playing a leadership role in her campaign,” Cole said.  He said that Stein’s team will continue to vet potential candidates on the “short list” to find a strong vice president for the left-leaning candidate.

Born to immigrant parents from southern Lebanon, Hammoud entered politics at a young age, being elected as a representative for Dearborn in the Michigan House of Representatives at the age of 26. He retained his seat in the State House in Lansing for three consecutive terms (the constitutional limit) before running for Dearborn’s mayor in 2021, achieving a historic victory to become the first Arab and first Muslim to lead the second largest city in Wayne County, nicknamed the “Capital of Arab Americans”, as well as the youngest mayor in the city’s history.

Mayor Hammoud’s tenure has so far been marked by numerous local achievements that have contributed to the city’s economic prosperity and improvements in services, public health and safety, infrastructure and social justice. He has also been committed to supporting legitimate Arab causes locally and abroad, foremost among them the rights of the Palestinian people for self determination and the end of the Israeli occupation of Palestinians.

Amid the catastrophic aftermath of the brutal Israeli war on Gaza over the past eight months, Hammoud has emerged as one of the prominent Arab and Muslim voices criticizing President Biden’s policies supporting the Israeli war on Gaza. He played a pivotal role in the “uncommitted” vote campaign in the Michigan presidential primaries in February, which resulted in a marred victory for the Democratic president after losing more than 104,000 votes among Democrats. This increased the electoral significance of the Dearborn area, which has seen a rush of Democratic and Republican campaigns to secure the trust of Arab and Muslim voters in Wayne County and throughout the Great Lakes State in recent months.

A new poll conducted by the Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that nearly half of Democrats disapprove of President Biden’s administration’s handling of the Israeli war on Gaza.

Stein, a physician from a Russian Jewish family, is running for president on the Green Party ticket for the third time since 2012. She received 1 percent of the national vote in the 2016 election, which contributed to Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton’s loss and Republican candidate Donald Trump’s victory. Some Democrats complain that Stein’s candidacy stole votes from Democrats and helped Trump win in some swing states, such as Wisconsin and Michigan.

Stein recently announced her official candidacy for the White House race for the third time, “for those who find no solace in the policies of the Democratic and Republican Parties”, which she described as “two failed parties.” The veteran environmental activist has so far collected the required signatures to run for the presidential election in 18 U.S. states, including some swing states like Wisconsin, Michigan and Arizona, according to the Green Party website.

Stein visited the Dearborn area twice in February and May to participate in solidarity events with the Palestinian victims in the Gaza Strip, accusing the U.S. administration of being “Israel’s main partner” in committing genocide in the occupied territories and affirming her full support for the “liberation of Palestine” from Zionist occupation, even considering that “the liberation of Palestine means our liberation as Americans.”

The rise of independent candidates, including Stein, raises concerns among Republicans and Democrats on the eve of the 2024 presidential elections. While the main presidential candidates, Donald Trump and Joe Biden, face real challenges in winning over large segments of voters, Stein’s candidacy, with her liberal agenda, poses a greater challenge for the Democratic president in particular.