Candidates line up for empty state representative seat

Former Hamtramck City Councilmember Saad Almasmari is one of several candidates vying for the open State Representative seat for the 4th District.

Update: Candidates Saad Almasmari and Christopher Wojtowicz, both of whom are Hamtramck residents, as well as Corletta Vaughn, of Detroit, dropped out of the election on Friday, the deadline for candidates to withdraw.

By Charles Sercombe
As expected, there is no shortage of candidates seeking the State Representative seat that Isaac Robinson held.
Robinson died a few weeks ago, with COVID-19 being the suspected cause, which prompted a special election to fill the remainder of his term.
And by the time the August primary and November election are over, what will remain for that term is a mere six weeks.
But just to complicate things, there is also a simultaneous election for a regular term that begins in January.
Most of the candidates signed up for both elections.
There are five Hamtramck residents who are in the running for the partial seat, and there are nine others, all from Detroit, who also filed.
For the regular term election, six Hamtramckans signed up. Former Hamtramck City Councilmember Saad Almasmari skipped the partial election, opting to concentrate on the regular term.
In the 2018 Primary Election, Almasmari came in second behind Robinson, by about 600 votes.
There is also one Republican signed up for the regular term.
Ten other Detroit Democrats signed up for the regular term.
Candidates have until today, Friday, April 24, to withdraw from the elections.
Besides Almasmari, other Hamtramck candidates include former Councilmember Shahab Ahmed, community activists Abraham Aiyash and Michele Oberholtzer, MD Rabbi Alam and the son of former Wayne County Treasurer Raymond Wojtowicz, Christopher Wojtowicz.
The 4th District includes Hamtramck and part of Detroit. Voters in the district have historically favored the Democratic candidate, so who ever wins the August Primary Election is all but guaranteed to win in November.
The regular term is two years. A candidate can serve three terms, and is then termed out of office. Robinson was in his first term.
Here is the list of candidates:
Partial term
Shahab Ahmed (D), 9115 Conant, Hamtramck
Abraham Aiyash (D), 5000 Yemans, Hamtramck
MD Rabbi Alam (D), PO Box 12195, Hamtramck
Anthony Ali (D), 658 Lawrence, Detroit
Christopher L. Collins (D), 2256 Leland, Detroit
DeLorean Holmes (D), 7359 Kipling, Detroit
Michele Oberholtzer (D), 2694 Trowbridge, Hamtramck
Tonya Myers Phillips (D), 830 Blaine, Detroit
Gregory Reyner (D), 1181 Atkinson, Detroit
Abraham Shaw (D), 10254 Gratiot, Detroit
Tawanna Simpson (D), 1500 Atkinson, Detroit
Sigmunt John Szczepkowski, Jr. (D), 13205 Charest, Detroit
Corletta Vaughn (D), 1745 E. Grand Blvd., Detroit
Christopher Wojtowicz (D), 12000 Gallagher, Detroit
Full term
Shahab Ahmed (D), 9115 Conant, Hamtramck
Abraham Aiyash (D), 5000 Yemans, Hamtramck
MD Rabbi Alam (D), PO Box 12195, Hamtramck
Anthony Ali (D), 658 Lawrence, Detroit
Saad Almasmari (D), 2261 Faber, Hamtramck
Christopher L. Collins (D), 2256 Leland, Detroit
DeLorean Holmes (D), 7359 Kipling, Detroit
Frazier K. Kimpson (D), 4106 Aretha, Detroit
Michele Oberholtzer (D), 2694 Trowbridge, Hamtramck
Tonya Myers Phillips (D), 830 Blaine, Detroit
Gregory Reyner (D), 1181 Atkinson, Detroit
Abraham Shaw (D), 10254 Gratiot, Detroit
Tawanna Simpson (D), 1500 Atkinson, Detroit
Sigmunt John Szczepkowski, Jr. (D), 13205 Charest, Detroit
Corletta Vaughn (D), 1745 E. Grand Blvd., Detroit
Christopher Wojtowicz (D), 12000 Gallagher, Detroit
Howard Wheathington (R), 948 Chicago, Detroit
Posted April 24, 2020