Dearborn businessman challenges Elissa Slotkin for Senate bid
Detroit Free Press
Nasser Beydoun, a small businessman and restaurateur from Dearborn, has filed to run as a Democrat for the seat currently occupied by U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., who is stepping down after next year's election.
As such, Beydoun becomes one of the first Democrats to challenge U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Lansing, who has so far cleared the field of any widely known candidates to run for the open seat. Another Democrat, lawyer Zack Burns of Ann Arbor, also recently filed to run.
Speaking to the Free Press on Monday, Beydoun, 58, who said he has experience as an activist and longstanding ties with southeastern Michigan and its Arab-American community, said Slotkin "has to overcome a lot of her history ... when it comes to communities of color."
Asked what he meant specifically, Beydoun mentioned a column by educator, lawyer and former congressional candidate Michael Griffie published recently in the Free Press. That column noted Slotkin hadn't signed on as a co-sponsor of legislation considered important by many Black Michiganders, including that calling for policing reform, marijuana decriminalization and a commission to study reparations, though she ultimately voted for all three.