Politics & Government
Leaders Urge Dearborn Residents To Ignore GOP Gubernatorial Candidate's Planned March Through City
Gubernatorial candidate Anthony Hudson, who said on X that he planned the march "to protect Americans from Sharia law."
November 13, 2025
Arab-American leaders are urging residents of Dearborn not to engage with a planned march through the city by Republican gubernatorial candidate Anthony Hudson, who said on X that he planned the march next Tuesday “to protect Americans from Sharia law.”
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“We encourage the residents of Dearborn to ignore this act of provocation,” said Dawud Walid, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations Michigan Chapter. “It appears as if this individual, who’s an outsider of our community in southeastern Michigan, is trying to use Muslims as a political football to get publicity.”
This is not the first time Hudson, a Genesee County truck driver who also ran for Congress in 2024, has targeted Dearborn, the nation’s largest Arab-majority city, in his campaign — in an October debate, he said that as governor he would authorize the National Guard to go into the city, again citing “Sharia law.”
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He further wrote on X that he was asking the National Guard and the U.S. Marine Corps to be present at the march, in the same post that he said that the march will be peaceful.
“This gentleman is coming to provoke a response,” Walid said. “Let him come in and holler to the wind and the sky, and have him go about his business.”
Cpl. Dan Bartok, a spokesperson for the Dearborn Police Department, wrote in a statement, “The Dearborn Police Department is aware of a planned rally inside the city this month. We are in contact with organizers, as is the case for many free speech events in Dearborn, and anticipate, and are fully prepared for, a peaceful and safe event.”
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