Breaking news … Primary election results are in

Councilmember Anam Miah (left) lost his bid for re-election on Tuesday. Standing next to him is Mohammed Alsomiri who came in first place. Alsomiri and the five other top vote-getters will face off in the November General Election. The top three vote-getters in that election will serve four-year terms, starting next January.

 

By Charles Sercombe
In a stunning upset, two city councilmembers who sought re-election were eliminated in Tuesday’s Primary Election.
Anam Miah, who is Mayor Pro Tem, and Abu Musa were among three candidates who were knocked out of the race.
The other losing candidate was Justin Jessop.
Miah came in dead last. Musa came in seventh place.
Fellow incumbent councilmember Saad Almasmari came in fourth place.
Former councilmember Robert Zwolak, who last served on council several years ago, came in sixth place – beating out Musa by 38 votes.
Another former councilmember, Mohammed Hassan, also survived the cut. Two years ago, he decided not to seek re-election and instead challenged Mayor Karen Majewski.
He lost that election by a wide margin.
A frequent critic of the council and city administration, Carrie Beth Lasley, came in third. This is her first attempt at seeking elected office in Hamtramck.
The top six finishers will now square off in the November General Election where voters will decide on the final three candidates.
The top vote-getter in Tuesday’s primary was Mohammed Alsomiri, a local business owner and developer. He has been in the process of renovating the former Shopper’s World building on Jos. Campau for the past few years.
Here are the results in order:
Mohammed Alsomiri: 727
Nayeem Choudhury: 680
Carrie Beth Lasley: 612
Saad Almasmari: 605
Mohammed Hassan: 595
Robert Zwolak: 588
Abu Musa: 550
Justin Jessop: 454
Anam Miah: 356
Miah’s defeat was perhaps not that surprising. He barely squeaked by four years ago.
There was a total of 2,136 votes cast, of which 988 were by absentee ballot.
The total number of voters represents only 17 percent of the city’s approximately 12,000 registered voters.
The turnout is considered low compared to other recent election years. One thing working against the candidates was that the only item on the ballot was the council race.
There were no incidents during election day. A slight drizzle occurred in the afternoon for about an hour.
Aug. 6, 2019

8 Responses to Breaking news … Primary election results are in

  1. Roadman

    August 6, 2019 at 11:08 pm

    A real stunning development was the political resurrection of the electoral fortunes of Robert Zwolak – a man soundly voted out of office finishing in last place in the 2015 general City Council election.

    Justin Jessop’s defeat was largely expected due to his minimal campaigning. Plus the fact he finished in a distant last place for a state representative seat in 2018.

    The Moahammed Alsomiri vote total surprised many – and some cheered his victory as his attempts at developing downtown established him as a civic leader worthy of a City Council seat

  2. Nasr Hussain

    August 7, 2019 at 12:39 am

  3. Roadman

    August 8, 2019 at 1:13 am

    Bob Zwolak was in the New Dodge Bar on Election Day night being congratulated by well-wishers on his primary election victory.

  4. Roadman

    August 9, 2019 at 7:44 pm

    Precincts 6 and 7 carried the day for Saad Almasmari and Mohammed Al-Somiri as both pulled large percentage of the votes in these two precincts.

    The only other candidate who performed at least moderately successful in those precincts was Mohammed Hassan – who pulled in about half as many votes as Almasmari and Al-Somiri.

    These two precincts are home to many Yemeni-Americans and both Almasmari and Al-Somiri are Yemeni immigrants – and Bangladeshi-American Mohammed Hassan had fostered ties to the Yemeni-American community during his prior mayoral run in 2017.

    After this primary election, Carrie Beth Lasley – who finished with only a fraction of the vote totals of the Yemeni-American candidates listed above – vowed during an interview with the Arab-American News today to campaign more vigorously in these two precincts translate her campaign literature into six foreign language versions.

  5. Fatema Hossain

    August 10, 2019 at 3:10 pm

    Congrats to Nayeem Choudhury who finished a strong second!

    Voter attitudes in Hamtramck appears to favor candidates like Nayeem who – like Mr. Al-Somiri – have never held public office before.

    Nayeem campaigned hard and it certainly paid off.

    Organizations like the Bangladeshi-American Political Action Committee need to continue to promote voter registration locally and make get-out-the-vote calls to Hamtramck community members.

  6. Dennis Nowak

    August 11, 2019 at 2:19 am

    Interesting that two of the three incumbents running for re-election did not make it past the primary election.

    Voters were smart in choosing veteran officeholder Robert Zwolak – who finished only 24 votes behind the third-place finisher.

    A past Hamtramck Review article citing proof that Abu Musa did not really reside in the City of Hamtramck likely hurt his re-election efforts. The past controversy of Anam Miah being a “defaulter” likely damaged his re-election efforts as well. The fact he finished well behind (98 votes!) fellow primary candidate Justin Jessop – who few gave any chance at winning – shows how far Mr. Miah has fallen out of favor with the local voters.

  7. Factman

    August 11, 2019 at 11:42 pm

    I’m curious about the ability of Hassan to run for council at all. He currently has a home and is paying “homestead tax” in Warren. By definition, that means he lives there. If that’s the case, how could he possibly be eligible to run for office in Hamtramck? This needs to be sorted out immediately in case he’s indeed ineligible, so the 7th place finisher can then campaign for the the upcoming election.

  8. Roadman

    August 12, 2019 at 5:32 pm

    @Factman:

    What proof do you have to back these allegations?

    The 7th place finisher is Abu Musa – is he a Hamtramck resident?

    I guess you could argue residency until the cows come home – the only case in Hamtramck where this argument prevailed was when school board member Mohammed Huda was removed from office by court order.

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