Hamtramck garnered national attention in 2015 when it was dubbed the first U.S. city to elect a Muslim-majority City Council.
Four of its six members now identify as Muslim in a city that has traditionally reflected the Polish and eastern European culture of its early immigrants.
Babushkas, pierogi and Catholic church bells are quickly giving way to hijabs, shawarma and the call to prayer as the influx of Hamtramck immigrants are now predominantly Muslims from Bangladesh and Yemen.
Despite the proportional swing toward more Bangladeshi and Yemeni elected officials, longtime Hamtramck Mayor Karen Majewski, whose family immigrated from Poland, maintained the lion’s share of voter support in Tuesday’s primary election:
Hamtramck mayoral election results (unofficial):
- Karen Majewski (incumbent), 1,258 votes, 43 percent
- Mohammed Hassan, 792 votes, 27 percent
- Asm Rahman, 736 votes, 25 percent
- Cathie Ladzinski Gordon, 109 votes, 3 percent
Rahman is the president of Frontier International Academy charter school in Detroit; Hassan is a current council member; and Gordon is a former council member and mayoral candidate who owns the New Dodge Lounge bar in Hamtramck.
Hassan and Majewski move on to the general election and will face off for the seat in November.
Majewski has served as Hamtramck’s mayor for nearly 12 years, winning elections in 2005, 2009 and 2013.
She narrowly won the 2013 general election against then-City Council Member Abdul Algazali by just 98 votesin a city with nearly 12,000 registered voters and 22,000 people.
With three City Council positions up for election, two incumbents, Andrea Karpinski with the most votes, and Ian Perrotta with the third most votes, will face off against four newcomers in November general election.
Nayeem Leon Choudhury placed second with 13 percent of the vote.
The top six vote getters move on to the November election.
Hamtramck City Council election results (unofficial):
- Andrea Karpinski (incumbent), 1072 votes, 15 percent
- Nayeem Leon Choudhury, 952 votes, 13 percent
- Ian Perrotta, 947 votes, 13 percent
- Monzurul Karim, 769 votes, 11 percent
- Mohammed Al-Somiri, 717 votes, 10 percent
- Fadel Al-Marsoumi, 680 votes, 9 percent
- Akil Al-Halemi 538 votes, 7 percent
- Showkat Karim Chowdhury, 485 votes, 7 percent
- Gias Talukder 460 votes, 6 percent
- Saiida Miah, 292 votes, 4 percent
- Write-ins, 15 votes