Nasser Beydoun

Last updated
Nasser Beydoun
Born1964or1965(age 58–59) [1]
Beirut, Lebanon
Alma mater University of San Diego
OccupationBusiness executive
Political party Democratic
Children3

Nasser Beydoun is an American business executive and political candidate. He is the former chief executive officer of the Qatar-based Wataniya Restaurants group. Beydoun was the executive director of the Arab American Chamber of Commerce and chair of the Arab American Civil Rights League. He was the first Arab American liaison to the Arab League.

Contents

Beydoun is currently a Democratic candidate in the 2024 United States Senate election in Michigan. [2]

Early life

Beydoun was born in Beirut to Najla and Mohamed Beydoun. [3] His family was from Bint Jbeil and his grandfather represented the town in the Parliament of Lebanon. [3] Beydoun's great-grandfather had already immigrated to the United States and worked for Ford Motor Company in Highland Park, Michigan. [4] Beydoun's grandfather remained in Lebanon but his father, Mohamed, immigrated to Detroit in 1969 when Beydoun was five years old. [4] Mohamed worked at Ford and raised six children. [4]

Education

In 1987, he moved to California. [5] Beydoun completed a bachelor's and master's degree in business administration at the University of San Diego. [6] He tried opening several business including a tortilla factory. [5] He returned to Michigan in 1999 and in 2000, be became the executive director of the Arab American Chamber of Commerce. [7] [5] In 2001, he was appointed by Amr Moussa as the first Arab American liaison to the Arab League. [5]

Career

By 2005, he was a construction company executive based in Wayne County, Michigan. [7] In 2005, he considered running as a GOP candidate in the 2006 United States Senate election in Michigan. [7] He has a history of political donations to both Republican and Democratic officeholders. [7] In 2007, he was hired by Wataniya Restaurants group as its chief executive officer and moved to Qatar. [5] He worked on expanding outlets of Caribou Coffee, Rainforest Cafe, and Sbarro in Qatar, Dubai, and Egypt. [5] He resigned in November 2009. [5] [8] He was later stuck in the country for 15 months after his employer and sponsor denied his exit permit. [5]

Beydoun has served as chair of the Arab American Civil Rights League. [6] He is a former trustee of the Henry Ford College foundation. [6] Beydoun was co-chair of BRIDGES, a federal law enforcement partnership with the Arab American and Middle Eastern communities in Metro Detroit. [6]

In December 2022, Beydoun established an exploratory committee ahead of the 2024 United States Senate election in Michigan. [6] He formally announced his candidacy in April 2023. [9]

In November 2023, Beydoun alleged that former Michigan Democratic Party chair Lon Johnson had approached him with an offer of $20 million from a pro-Israel lobbying group to drop out of the Senate race and primary United States Representative Rashida Tlaib, despite Beydoun's publicly pro-Palestinian stance. Johnson repeatedly denied the claims, saying, "that's just crazy. I didn't offer him $20 million, or any other amount of money, to run against Rashida. That's insane." [10]

Personal life

Beydoun married Maysa Beydoun, [8] a Canadian of Lebanese descent and had three children. [4] [6] He later married Nancy Jaafar. [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hill Harper</span> American actor and political candidate (born 1966)

Frank Eugene "Hill" Harper is an American actor and political candidate. He is known for his roles as Dr. Sheldon Hawkes in CSI: NY, Agent Spelman Boyle in Limitless, and Dr. Marcus Andrews in The Good Doctor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moza bint Nasser</span> Chairperson of the Qatar Foundation

Sheikha Moza bint Nasser Al-Missned is one of the three consorts of Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the former Emir of the State of Qatar and mother of the current Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. She is the co-founder and chair of the Qatar Foundation, the largest state-owned NPO in the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rashida Tlaib</span> American politician and lawyer (born 1976)

Rashida Harbi Tlaib is an American politician and lawyer serving as the U.S. representative for Michigan's 12th congressional district. She is the first Palestinian American woman to serve in Congress and one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arab Democracy Foundation</span>

The Arab Democracy Foundation (ADF) is an independent international Arab civil society organization advocating democracy as a culture, a way of life, and the best system for good governance. ADF was established on May 27, 2007, at the initiative of Arab democracy advocates, and with support from the State of Qatar which accepted to host ADF's headquarters. H.H. Moza bint Nasser announced the inception of ADF and currently chairs its board of trustees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lon Johnson</span> American politician

Lonnie Barton Johnson is an American politician. He is the former chairperson of the Michigan Democratic Party, having served in that position from 2013 through 2015. He was an unsuccessful candidate in the 2012 election for the 103rd district in the Michigan House of Representatives. He was the Democratic nominee for Michigan's 1st congressional district in the 2016 election, losing to Republican Jack Bergman in the general election by over 50,000 votes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palestinian Americans</span> Americans of full or partial Palestinian descent

Palestinian Americans are Americans who are of full or partial Palestinian descent. It is unclear when the first Palestinian immigrants arrived in the United States, but it is believed that they arrived during the early 1900s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the Middle Eastern people in Metro Detroit</span>

In 2004, Metro Detroit had one of the largest settlements of Middle Eastern people, including Arabs and Chaldo-Assyrians in the United States. As of 2007 about 300,000 people in Southeast Michigan traced their descent from the Middle East. Dearborn's sizeable Arab community consists largely of Lebanese people who immigrated for jobs in the auto industry in the 1920s, and of more recent Yemenis and Iraqis. In 2010 the four Metro Detroit counties had at least 200,000 people of Middle Eastern origin. Bobby Ghosh of TIME said that some estimates gave much larger numbers. From 1990 to 2000 the percentage of people speaking Arabic in the home increased by 106% in Wayne County, 99.5% in Macomb County, and 41% in Oakland County.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bint Jbeil electoral district</span>

Bint Jbeil electoral district was an electoral district in Lebanon. It covered all areas of the Bint Jbeil District. The constituency elected three Shia Muslim members of the Parliament of Lebanon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thawb</span> Long-sleeved Middle Eastern robe

Thawb or thobe is an Arab dress for the inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula, also called dishdashah, and kandurah, kandoora or gandurah in varieties of Arabic. A long-sleeved ankle-length traditional robe, it is mainly worn by men in the Arabian Peninsula, Jordan, Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, North Africa, and some countries in East and West Africa, with regional variations in name and style. It is also worn by Muslim men in the Indian subcontinent due to its modest appearance, and is referred to as jubbah. Depending on local traditions, a thawb can be worn in formal or informal settings; in the Gulf states thobes are the main formal attire for men. The term "thobe" is also used in some varieties of Arabic to refer to women's attire, such as in Palestine and Sudan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ian Conyers</span> American politician

Ian Kyle Conyers is an American politician who represented the 4th District of Michigan in the Michigan Senate for one term. He is a member of the Democratic Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2018 United States House of Representatives elections in Michigan</span>

The 2018 United States House of Representatives elections in Michigan were held on November 6, 2018, to elect the 14 U.S. representatives from the state of Michigan, one from each of the state's 14 congressional districts. The elections coincided with the elections of other offices, including a gubernatorial election, other elections to the House of Representatives, elections to the United States Senate, and various state and local elections. The filing deadline for candidates filing for the August 7 primary was April 24, 2018. Unless otherwise indicated, the Cook Political Report rated the congressional races as safe for the party of the incumbent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Craig (police chief)</span> American police chief (born 1956)

James E. Craig is an American law enforcement official who served as the chief of the Detroit Police Department from 2013 to 2021. He previously served as chief of the Cincinnati Police Department and Portland Police Department.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2018 Michigan's 13th congressional district special election</span>

A special election for Michigan's 13th congressional district was held on November 6, 2018, following the resignation of Democratic U.S. Representative John Conyers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brenda Jones (politician)</span> American politician (born 1959)

Brenda B. Jones is an American politician who served as a member of the Detroit City Council from 2006 to 2022, and as the president of the City Council from 2014 to 2022. A member of the Democratic Party, Jones also briefly served as the U.S. representative for Michigan's 13th congressional district from November 29, 2018, to January 3, 2019. She won the 2018 special election to succeed John Conyers following his resignation in December 2017, and was succeeded by Rashida Tlaib. She ran for the seat again in 2020, losing the Democratic primary to Tlaib by a wide margin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2020 United States House of Representatives elections in Michigan</span> House elections in Michigan

The 2020 United States House of Representatives elections in Michigan were held on November 3, 2020, to elect the 14 U.S. representatives from the state of Michigan, one from each of the state's 14 congressional districts. The elections coincided with the 2020 U.S. presidential election, as well as other elections to the House of Representatives, elections to the United States Senate and various state and local elections. Party primaries were held on August 4, 2020. The Michigan delegation prior to the election consisted of seven Democrats, six Republicans and one Libertarian. Unless otherwise indicated, the Cook Political Report rated the races as safe for the party of the incumbents.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2024 United States Senate election in Michigan</span>

The 2024 United States Senate election in Michigan will be held on November 5, 2024, to elect a Class I member of the United States Senate to represent the state of Michigan. It will be held concurrently with the 2024 United States presidential election, other elections to the United States Senate, other elections to the United States House of Representatives, and various state and local elections. Primary elections will take place on August 6, 2024.

Events from the year 2019 in Michigan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2022 United States House of Representatives elections in Michigan</span>

The 2022 United States House of Representatives elections in Michigan were held on November 8, 2022, to elect representatives for the thirteen seats in Michigan. The deadline for candidates to file for the August 2 primary was April 19. The congressional makeup prior to the election was seven Democrats and seven Republicans. However, after the 2020 census, Michigan lost one congressional seat. Democrats won a majority of seats in the state for the first time since 2008. This can be partly attributed to the decrease in the number of districts, which resulted in two Republican incumbents – Bill Huizenga and Fred Upton – in the new 4th district. Redistricting also played a part in shifting partisan lean of the districts which favored the Democrats overall, including in the 3rd district, which Democrats were able to flip with a margin of victory of 13 points. That was made possible by a non-partisan citizens' commission drawing the new political boundaries instead of the Michigan legislature after a 2018 ballot proposal was approved.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2024 United States House of Representatives elections in Michigan</span> U.S. House elections in Michigan

The 2024 United States House of Representatives elections in Michigan will be held on November 5, 2024, to elect the 13 U.S. representatives from the state of Michigan, one from each of the state's congressional districts. The elections will coincide with the U.S. presidential election, as well as other elections to the House of Representatives, elections to the United States Senate, and various state and local elections. The primary elections are scheduled for August 6, 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2024 Michigan Democratic presidential primary</span> Primary election in Michigan

The 2024 Michigan Democratic presidential primary was held on February 27, 2024, as part of the Democratic Party primaries for the 2024 presidential election. 140 delegates to the Democratic National Convention will be allocated to presidential candidates. The contest took place concurrently with its Republican counterpart.

References

  1. ↑ Spangler, Todd (April 25, 2023). "Dearborn businessman challenges Elissa Slotkin for Senate bid". Detroit Free Press . Retrieved April 25, 2023.
  2. ↑ "Nasser Beydoun announces candidacy for U.S. Senate". ArabAmericanNews. 2023-04-26. Retrieved 2023-06-06.
  3. 1 2 Warikoo, Niraj (2006-07-31). "Bint Jbeil: Town's local ties are deep". Detroit Free Press. p. 6. Retrieved 2023-01-31.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Markiewicz, David A. (2001-12-30). "Arab enclave wrestles with identity". The Atlanta Constitution. p. A18. Retrieved 2023-01-31.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Metro Detroit man trapped in Persian Gulf". Detroit Free Press. 2010-12-18. p. 15. Retrieved 2023-01-31.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Businessman Nasser Beydoun announces U.S. Senate exploratory committee and statewide tour". ArabAmericanNews. 2022-12-23. Retrieved 2023-01-31.
  7. 1 2 3 4 "New challenger steps up to plate". Detroit Free Press. 2005-04-04. p. 19. Retrieved 2023-01-31.
  8. 1 2 Scott, Melanie D. (2011-10-14). "Family's faith in justice rewarded as metro man's Qatar ordeal ends". Detroit Free Press. p. 9. Retrieved 2023-01-31.
  9. ↑ "Nasser Beydoun announces candidacy for U.S. Senate". ArabAmericanNews. 2023-04-26. Retrieved 2023-06-06.
  10. ↑ Schuster, Simon (November 27, 2023). "Michigan Senate candidates were offered $20M to drop race, challenge Rashida Tlaib". MLive Media Group . Retrieved November 29, 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.