Dearborn businessman announces campaign to replace Sen. Debbie Stabenow
Dearborn businessman Nasser Beydoun, 58, is officially the third Democrat to toss his name into the race to fill the seat that U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow will be vacating at the end of her current term.
U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-7th District) and Ann Arbor based attorney Zack Burns had previously announced their candidacies.
Stabenow’s term runs until January of 2025.
Since 2015, Nasser has led the ACRL, an organization dedicated to equal rights and protections for people of all backgrounds. Beydoun is the principal owner of EZ Business Solutions, a Michigan-based consulting firm, and is founder of District 12 Restaurants in Dearborn and Dearborn Heights.
“Michigan, like this country, is so much stronger when everyone has a voice,” Beydoun said. “This campaign is about empowering people and small businesses to rebuild this country, it’s about protecting democracy and ensuring we have a society where everyone can thrive. That’s going to take new leadership with a proven record of standing up to injustice, fighting for equity and championing civil rights so everyone can pursue the American Dream.”
Nasser, the former chairman of the American Arab Chamber of Commerce also previously served as co-chair of BRIDGES (Building Respect in Diverse Groups to Enhance Sensitivity) and on boards of the Detroit Crime Stoppers, Detroit Economic Growth Corporation and Detroit Brownfield Redevelopment Authority. He was named a Michiganian of the Year by The Detroit News in 2006.
Beydoun said that he is an immigrant son of a proud UAW member who brought their family to the United States from Lebanon in 1969.
“My father would wake up at 5 a.m. every morning, grab his lunch and head to work in the Ford plant in Wayne,” he said. “My mother clipped coupons from the Sunday paper so we could make ends meet. They did this so my four sisters, brother and I could have a better life than they did. That’s all anyone wants — the opportunity to work hard, live in safe neighborhoods and send their kids to college without mortgaging their future. That’s what elected officials need to be focused on, but too many are there only for the power and looking for their next office. Like so many, I’m tired of our government failing us.”
Nasser Beydoun
He first announced he was planning to run in December, shortly after Stabenow announced her retirement, but he didn’t officially launch his campaign until this week.