Mayoral candidate says bribe offered

By Charles Sercombe
The battle over who Hamtramck’s mayor actually is took another twist among its many turns in this eight-months-long-and-counting dispute.
In the latest development, mayoral challenger Muhith Mahmood confirmed internet rumors that he had been offered a bribe to end his pursuit to be the city’s mayor.
Asked to provide more information, Mahmood told The Review: “I don’t want to go through all the details as of now.”
He said that the offer made to him was not recorded. Mahmood added that he will not take an offer to end his quest to become mayor.
“Not at all. That’s not something I would accept,” Mahmood told The Review.
The accusation creates a suspicion that the offer came from Mayor Adam Alharbi or one of his associates. He denied having any connection to such an alleged offer.
“I have not made any offer to Mr. Mahmood to withdraw or drop his appeals. So that’s completely false,” Alharbi told The Review.
Alharbi continued:
“We are at the final stage of the legal process regarding these 37 ballots, and we have always let the legal and canvassing process take its course. If any third parties have reached out to Mr. Mahmood, you would have to ask him, or them, directly about their motivations.”
The mayoral election from last November evolved into a dispute over whether the 37 uncounted ballots should be included in the final election result.
The ballots in question were discovered a day after the election in the city clerk’s office, where they had been left unsecured.
Alharbi has argued that, since the uncounted ballots had lost their proper “chain of custody,” the ballots should not be counted, noting that someone could have tampered with them.
The stakes of the election remain high, since Alharbi won the election by a slim 11-vote margin.
Mahmood counter-argued that not counting the ballots deprives those 37 voters of their voting rights.
After months of haggling in the courts, the state court of appeals ruled that the ballots should be counted.
All that’s left now is for the Wayne County Board of Canvassers to schedule a meeting to finally count those ballots, which is likely to happen next Friday, Oct. 16.
(As of Thursday, when The Review went to press, the county had not yet scheduled a meeting for the ballot count.)
The 37 ballots were not originally admitted by the county board of canvassers because its four members deadlocked in a 2-2 tie vote on the matter.
Because of that tie vote, county rules prevent those ballots from being included in the full tally – thus, the subsequent court journey.
Even if the ballots upend the election results, and Mahmood comes out on top, Mayor Alharbi, through his attorney Nabih Ayad, told WXYZ Channel 7 news that there will be a further challenge.
“Counting means that they have to be counted, looked at. There’s still the ability to challenge those 37 ballots for something that’s not proper,” Ayad told WXYZ.
That’s not the only aspect of the issue Alharbi is pursuing. He is challenging whether Mahmood is qualified to hold elective office in Hamtramck, accusing him of not being a resident, but instead living in Troy with his family.
Mahmood says he lives in Hamtramck, and visits his family in Troy. A prior internal city investigation by a legal firm, however, concluded that there is evidence that Mahmood does not live in Hamtramck.
So far, Alharbi has struck out in the courts over the residency claim.
Posted Oct. 9, 2026