Former mayor’s parting words: ‘Hamtramck, don’t give up’

By Charles Sercombe
Former mayor Adam Alharbi has some parting words as Hamtramck ushers in a new mayor.
Also, he’s still insisting the city’s new mayor, Muhith Mahmood, does not actually live in Hamtramck, despite a Wayne County Circuit Court judge saying that evidence produced to prove Mahmood is not a resident “scant, at best.”
Alharbi attempted to block Mahmood from being seated as mayor by claiming he does not live here, and was thus ineligible to hold any elective office in Hamtramck.
“Unfortunately, the decision wasn’t in our favor and it’s in my opponent’s favor,” Alharbi said in a social media post. “I really don’t have to have that position. It’s just the fact I live in the city. I don’t live in Troy or Dearborn, or some other city and came here to run for prestige. This is my city. My town.”
Alharbi and Mahmood have been fighting over which of them is the rightful mayor for a year since last November’s election.
Mahmood’s first roadblock to winning was convincing a judge that 37 uncounted ballots from last year’s November election get counted.
The legitimacy of those ballots was contested by Alharbi because they were discovered a day after the election, and he argued that they had lost the “chain of custody.”
Mahmood prevailed, but it took several more months. As it turned out, he won the election by a slim 12-vote margin.
Alharbi continued in his quixotic attempt to prevent Mahmood from being mayor by going to court over the latter’s residency. Alharbi relied on Troy neighbors and a prior city investigation into his residency to prove his case.
The courts rejected that attempt as well.
Mahmood’s election victory was certified by the Wayne County Board of Canvassers on Wednesday.
Alharbi, however, was not done with the matter. Through his attorney, he attempted to get the county to recount the ballots from the entire election.
The county denied his request.
In his social media post, Alharbi said that more could have been accomplished if the legal matters weren’t taking up his time.
“Imagine if we didn’t have all these legal issues,” Alharbi said. “We could have accomplished way more. It’s more like I’m giving in to someone who doesn’t live in the city.”
Mahmood’s residency victory also raised concerns among some residents over similar allegations about some councilmembers who are also alleged to not live in the city, or who committed ballot harvesting to win their seats.
Alharbi vowed that this is “the beginning of the end of voter fraud. In the future, we must make sure only residents run for office. So Hamtramck, don’t give up. The election was meant to be this way so we can correct it.”
He did not specify what steps could be taken to root out any future election fraud.
Posted Nov. 6, 2026