“I am a Yemeni American… But I was elected by everyone in the city, and I will work for everyone.”

HAMTRAMCK — Arab Americans are back on the Hamtramck City Council. Yemeni American candidate Saad Almasmari won first place in Tuesday’s City Council elections.

Almasmari brings back Arab American representation to the Council after the late Dr. Abdul Algazali lost the mayoral race in 2013.

The Council member-elect received 22 percent of the votes.

Almasmari, a 28-year-old business owner, thanked the voters and pledged to follow through with the agenda he had presented before the election.

He said his top priority on the Council will be to work on bringing in new business to the city to help Hamtramck’s finances.

“We have a city where businesses can succeed,” he said. “There should be no empty stores on Joseph Campau Street.”

Almasmari said he also plans to promote diversity at City Hall to ensure proportional representation for Hamtramck’s different communities and advocated for investing in the schools as the future of the city.

Almasmari said he wants to encourage Arab Americans’ political participation.

“Over the past 10 years, the Yemeni community has not been engaged in the elections as much as it is supposed to,” he said. “I will work on solving this problem.”

He paid tribute to Algazali as one of the first leaders to urge civic participation from the community. 

The Yemen American Benevolent Association (YABA) congratulated Almasmari on his victory.

“We wish Mr. Saad Almasmari and the rest of the Hamtramck City Council members good luck in accomplishing their goals and serving the city of Hamtramck,” YABA executive director Ali Baleed Almuklani wrote on Facebook.

Almasmari was the only challenger to win on Tuesday, ousting Robert Zwolak. Incumbents Abu Musa and Anam Miah were reelected.

Zwolak was involved in a hit-and-run accident involving a parked car on Halloween.

Almasmari joins Bangladeshi councilmen Musa, Miah and Mohammed Hassan to form a Muslim majority on the council.

But Almasmari said he will be working for all the people of the city.

“I am a Yemeni American; I am from this community,” he told The Arab American News. “But I was elected by everyone in the city, and I will work for everyone.”

In the week before the elections, an anonymous campaign flyer urged voters to elect White candidates to “keep the Muslim out.”

OneHamtramck, an organization that works on promoting diversity, applauded Tuesday’s “historic” results.

Bill Meyer, the executive director of OneHamtramck, said Muslim Americans, including the Yemeni, Bangladeshi and Bosnian communities, have contributed to the “stability, security and sobriety” of the city.

“Despite having the largest ethnic group in the city, there are no Arabs working for the local government, either at City Hall or in the police and fire departments; and very few people of color,” Meyer said in a statement. “Now with more fair representation in Council, issues of discrimination and inequality will most likely be addressed.”