The twists and turns of Hamtramck’s politics

By Charles Sercombe
Oh, what a tangled web Hamtramck weaves – at least when it comes to election politics.
The history of the present city council make-up has taken some twists and turns in the last few years.
Let’s start with the year 2022, when newly-elected Councilmember Adam Albarmaki resigned because of work obligations, and because the amount of time required to be on council was more than “the expected standard.”
To the cynics out there, it’s tempting to wonder what exactly is this never-heard-of-before “standard.”
No matter, that paved the way for Muhith Mahmood, the next runner-up in the 2021 election, to take his seat.
The appointment of Mahmood raised the question of his residency, however.
According to Hamtramck and Troy property tax records back then, he listed his address as being in Troy. He also owned a house in Hamtramck, but did not claim a Homestead exemption for it, which would indicate that he does not there.
Instead, he had a Homestead exemption for his Troy house.
Mahmood told The Review he did live in Troy for a time, but moved to his other house at 3119 Holbrook before the 2021 primary election for city council. He said at that time he had not yet updated his property tax records.
A year later, the council underwent another resignation, this time by the only woman then on the council, Amanda Jaczkowski, who cited her reason for leaving as having to do with health issues.
Her departure once again opened the door to the next runner-up in the 2021 election, former Councilmember Abu Musa.
Musa first won a seat on council in 2016, but was knocked out of office in 2019.
He sought re-election in 2021 but came in fifth — next to last in the field of six candidates.
Musa’s appointment meant that the council was now comprised of all males, and is all-Muslim.
The current council seemed to operate relatively smoothly for a couple of years, but this year the wheels of this seemingly well-oiled machine started coming off.
Back in January, there were a number of emails that were read into the record of the council’s public meeting that accused Councilmember Musa of sleeping during meetings and that he did not live here.
The emails were suspicious from the get-go, as they used similar language.
And then, it was discovered that the author of some of those emails was none other than fellow Councilmember Mohammed Hassan, who used the alias of “Omar Khan.”
The email address of this “Omar Khan” was linked to an email that Hassan had used in the past.
It’s not known why Hassan and Musa had a falling out. Hassan denied he was the author of the emails.
That led to Musa being ousted as mayor pro tem, a position where the person is next in line to become mayor if the mayor ever had to resign from office. The mayor pro tem also to fills in for the mayor at functions that the mayor cannot attend.
Hassan was successful in getting enough votes on council to remove Musa as mayor pro tem, thus scuttling Musa’s chance of becoming mayor if Mayor Amer Ghalib took a job with President Trump’s administration.
As for Musa’s residency, he invited anyone who doubted that he lives here to visit his house at 11441 Mitchell.
His residency came under question when he first got elected in 2016. It was another situation where he said he lives in Hamtramck while his wife and two daughters lived in a house in Warren.
Musa has said that he and his wife have not separated.
In 2012, according to voting records, Musa was living with his wife in Warren but after a month there re-registered as a voter in Hamtramck.
Since 2016 he has lived in addresses on Trowbridge, Gallagher, Moran and now Mitchell.
Hassan next set his sights on running for mayor in this year’s election, which sparked some friction with Mayor Amer Ghalib. They both traded barbs at council meetings.
But then Hassan said he would not seek the role of mayor because of work obligations – although, had he followed through with his plan to run for mayor, the city charter would have required him to resign from council because he is not in the last year of his term.
Mayor Ghalib at first said he would seek re-election, but then a curious thing happened: President Trump didn’t forget about Ghalib’s very-public endorsement of him during the presidential election, and Ghalib’s influence on convincing many Arab-Americans and Muslims to jump on the Trump bandwagon.
As a reward for that loyal support, Trump offered him the job as ambassador to Kuwait, and Ghalib accepted.
There’s just one hurdle for Ghalib to jump over, and that is getting confirmed by the U.S. Senate to take on the role. The Senate has yet to set a date for that confirmation.
There is already some opposition to Ghalib being appointed to the role from prominent Jewish organizations that accuse him of “trafficking in antisemitism.”
An influential advisor to Trump, conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer, is urging Trump to withdraw his nomination of Ghalib.
Ghalib’s possible departure has now opened the door for other candidates to take on that role. So far, two councilmembers, Khalil Refai and Muhith Mahmood, have announced their mayoral candidacy.
Both of them were up for re-election to council this year. Their run for mayor will mean that there are now two open council seats up for grabs.
So far, a number of candidates have already announced their intention to run for those seats on social media, but only one person, Saed Yousef, has officially filed to be a candidate.
And now, on top of all this, there are four out of six councilmembers facing possible felony charges for illegally handling absentee ballots in the 2023 election season.
This election year has the potential of changing the city’s ever-evolving political landscape.
Posted April 11, 2025