Two Muslim mayors from Metro Detroit who endorsed President Donald Trump during his presidential campaign have been selected as U.S. ambassadors.
In announcing the appointments of Dearborn Heights Mayor Bill Bazzi and Hamtramck Mayor Amer Ghalib, Trump referenced their role helping him in the 2024 election.
Trump announced on social media Tuesday, March 11, that he had selected Bazzi as the next U.S. ambassador to Tunisia in North Africa.
“Bazzi worked hard during the 2024 Presidential Election to help us secure our historic victory, and I look forward to seeing the great things he will accomplish for our nation,” Trump wrote.
Four days earlier, on March 7, Trump announced his appointment of Ghalib as the next U.S. ambassador to Kuwait on the Arabian Peninsula.
“As the mayor of the City of Hamtramck, Michigan, Amer worked hard to help us secure a historic victory in Michigan,” Trump wrote on social media. “I know he will make our country proud in this new role.”
During the 2024 campaign, Trump won over a number of Muslim and Arab-American voters and leaders with his stance on ending the wars in the Middle East, especially Israel’s war in Gaza and Lebanon. Israel’s war in Gaza continues.
Ghalib endorsed Trump in September, and Bazzi announced his endorsement in October during a Trump rally in Novi.
“Muslim and Arab voters could turn this election,” Trump said during that October rally. “We’re going to set an all-time record with the Arab and Muslim voters.”
Related: Muslim and Arab leaders take the stage to endorse Trump at Michigan rally
Ghalib and Bazzi later joined Trump on stage during the final rally of his campaign that was held on the eve before Election Day in Grand Rapids.
In Dearborn, the nation’s largest Arab-majority city, Trump won with 42% of the vote. Democratic candidate and former Vice President Kamala Harris took 36% of the vote, with Green Party candidate Jill Stein taking 18% of the vote.
In neighboring Dearborn Heights, Trump also won, taking 44% of the vote to Harris’ 38%. Stein took 15% of the vote.
In Hamtramck, the first known U.S. city to be run by an all-Muslim government, Harris took 46% of the vote to Trump’s 43%. Stein took 9% of the vote.
Harris too received endorsements from Arab-American leaders, including three Hamtramck city councilmen.
Bazzi, an immigrant from Lebanon, served for 21 years in the U.S. Marine Corps. He also worked for 22 years at Ford Motor Company.
In 2021, Bazzi became the first Muslim and Arab-American to be elected as mayor of Dearborn Heights, according to the Middle East Monitor.
“Among the distinct countries I have visited over the years, I hold a great affinity to Tunisia and its honorable parliament members – along with the people I met while touring orphanages, women’s career institutions, schools and a multitude of companies which distinguish the country’s rising presence in the region,” Bazzi wrote on social media. “With my visits overseas, the parliament cohort’s visits to the U.S. and the relations we have established over the years, I am excited to return and honorably represent our country in Tunisia as its U.S. ambassador.”
Ghalib, a Yemen-born immigrant, has served as mayor of Hamtramck since 2022, when the city became the first known municipality in the U.S. to be run by an all-Muslim government.
Ghalib earned his M.D. at Ross University School of Medicine and serves as a healthcare professional.
