The two candidates on the ballot for the Dearborn Heights mayoral race are former city council president and current acting mayor Mo Baydoun and city councilwoman Denise Malinowski-Maxwell.
The city is electing a new mayor after former Mayor Bill resigned and was confirmed earlier this month as U.S. ambassador to Tunisia.
Malinowski-Maxwell served as city council chair and interim mayor in 2020 and 2021. She said her career experience taught her to deescalate situations, delegate tasks, and work effectively with a team to solve problems.
Malinowski-Maxwell said her main priorities include properly staffing the city departments, particularly the police department, and fostering public safety. She said that includes preventing accidents on the road, and providing disaster relief and support to people whose basements have flooded in parts of the city that are vulnerable when Ecorse Creek overflows its banks.
“We need to take action in our own community and prevent this from happening,” she said.
She added that she would ensure residents of the city retain high property values and have access to city services.
Having grown up in Dearborn Heights, Malinowski-Maxwell said the community is important to her because she still has friends and family in the city. “I know a lot of people in the community, I’ve done a lot of volunteering over the years, it’s the right place to be for me,” she said.
Malinowski-Maxwell's general election opponent, Mo Baydoun, a lifelong resident of Dearborn Heights, said on his campaign website that his goal is to establish more accessible and accountable government leadership. Baydoun said he's working to provide easy online permits and licenses, helpful digital tools for residents, a public tracking board to foster transparency, and smart water management to keep utility bills low.
Like Malinowski-Maxwell, Baydoun said he's committed to public safety and boosting morale for the city’s police force. He also wants to support local businesses, create cleaner neighborhoods and parks, and fight negligence among landlords and property owners.
Baydoun won the August primary decisively, but Malinowski-Maxwell said low voter turnout put a damper on the results.
“People just don’t get out and vote like they used to,” she said. “It’s sad.” She added that not even half of the people registered to vote went to the polls to cast their ballots.
Former Mayor
Election Day for the nonpartisan mayoral race is November 4.
