Amer Ghalib, mayor of the battleground state of Michigan, said Republicans were “the right choice” despite their differences.
The mayor of the only city in the United States with an all-Muslim government endorsed former President Donald Trump in November’s presidential election.
Amer Ghalib, who represents Hamtramck in Michigan, a key battleground state, said Sunday that the Republican candidate is a “person of principle” and the “right choice,” despite disagreeing with him on some issues.
“While President Trump and I do not agree on everything, I know him to be a man of principle,” Ghalib said in a Facebook post.
“Though the outlook is bright, I don’t know whether he will win the election and become the 47th President of the United States. But I believe he is the right choice at this critical time. Whatever the outcome, I will not regret my decision and am prepared to face the consequences.”
“Now the caravan begins its journey,” Ghalib added. “This is just the beginning.”
Shortly after the announcement, President Trump reposted his endorsement of Ghalib on his Truth Social platform.
Hamtramck, with a population of about 28,000, made headlines in 2021 when it elected the first all-Muslim city council and first Muslim mayor in the United States.
Ghalib, who moved to the United States from Yemen at age 17, announced his support for Trump less than a week after meeting the Republican candidate at a town hall in Flint, Michigan.
Ghalib told The Detroit News last week that the two discussed the concerns of Arab and Muslim Americans and that Trump had requested his support.
Michigan is one of seven key battleground states expected to decide the November election between President Trump and his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris.
Opinion polls predict a close race between Trump and Harris both nationally and in battleground states such as Michigan.
The latest polling average compiled by The New York Times shows Harris leading Trump in Michigan, 50 percent to 47 percent.
Trump won Michigan in the 2016 election, defeating Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, becoming the first Republican to win the state since George H.W. Bush in 1988.
President Joe Biden defeated President Trump by about 150,000 votes in 2020, putting the state back in Democratic hands.
Anger among Muslim Americans over the Biden administration’s support for Israel’s war in Gaza is a concern for Democrats facing close election races in battleground states.
A poll released in August by the Council on American-Islamic Relations found that just 12% of Michigan’s Muslim voters expressed support for Harris, while 18% supported Trump and 40% supported the Green Party’s Jill Stein.
On Thursday, the Unfettered Citizens Movement, a grassroots advocacy group aimed at pressuring Democrats to end their support for the war, announced it would not endorse Harris after her team failed to meet a Sept. 15 deadline to meet with families of Palestinians killed in Gaza.
