Nasser Beydoun, Detroit-area civil rights advocate, launches U.S. Senate run
By Ben Orner | borner@mlive.com
Nasser Beydoun is an underdog to be Michigan’s next U.S. Senator, but he wants voters to “bet on me” just like he once bet on a gas station on McNichols Road in Detroit.
Beydoun, a prominent Arab American civil rights activist, businessman and son of Lebanese immigrants, recalled Wednesday in a 2024 campaign launch press conference how he had community revitalization in mind when he bought that Marathon station 20 years ago.
“When I redeveloped this gas station, I did something unheard of: I made the entire façade windows,” he explained. “I wanted to build something you would see in the suburbs of Detroit. I came here before others would, because I wanted to be part of bringing the city back.”
Now, the 58-year-old from Dearborn wants to bring America back to the kind of country “that gave me so much,” like education, freedom and opportunity.
“I believe that my America is your America,” he said. “I want to share our vision of America and help rebuild it.”
Beydoun joins U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin (the assumed frontrunner) and attorney Zack Burns in running for the seat to be vacated by Democrat Debbie Stabenow after 2024. Actor Hill Harper and State Board of Education president Pamela Pugh are considering running.
Democrats who have declined to run include Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow.
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Speaking on his platform, Beydoun decried an expensive health care system, an education system that is “failing” teachers and students, and the fact that some people can work full-time but still be in poverty.
“A top-down approach hasn’t worked,” he said, “but career politicians from both sides of the aisle keep delivering more of the same: politics that divides us.”
Beydoun has led the Arab American Civil Rights league since 2015, and he was formerly chairman and executive director of the American Arab Chamber of Commerce. He has business and marketing degrees from the University of San Diego.
He has also served on boards including Detroit Crime Stoppers and the city’s Economic Growth Corporation. The Detroit News named him “Michiganian of the Year” in 2006.
Beydoun, who owns a consulting firm and two restaurants along with that gas station, has been a frequent small-dollar donor to Michigan Democratic congressional and Senate candidates in past elections, according to campaign finance records.
Current Republican candidates for the Senate seat are State Board of Education member Nikki Snyder and Michael Hoover, a pest control business owner.
Early analysis from Cook Political Report and the University of Virginia predict Michigan’s Senate race result to “lean Democrat.”