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Fayrouz Saad is a democratic candidate for a congressional seat in the traditionally Republican stronghold of Michigan's eleventh congressional district.  If she wins the election, Saad would be the first Muslim American congresswoman in the United States as there has never been a Muslim woman in Congress. As noted on her campaign website, Saad is focusing on Michigan's economy, healthcare, immigration reform, education, national security, women’s rights, and environmental regulations as key issues in the 2018 election. The first Director of Detroit’s Office of Immigrant Affairs under Mayor Mike Duggan in 2015, Saad was an Obama appointee to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) where she worked on immigration reform, security issues and economic development programs in the Middle East. In 2010, she helped coordinate the DHS cleanup efforts of the Gulf coast after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Saad has worked for both the Kerry and Clinton campaigns in the 11^th congressional district, as well as that of state representative Gino Polidori.

Saad is part of the "Muslim Wave" of candidates running in the 2018 primaries in Michigan. Other Muslim-identified candidates running in the primary include Egyptian-American and democrat Abdul El-Sayed, a doctor and former director of Michigan's Health Department for governor, and former state legislator and Palestinian-American Rashida Tlaib running unopposed for the congressional seat in Michigan's 13th congressional district special election, 2018.

Early Life and Education

Saad was born in 1984 in Dearborn, Michigan and brought up in the culturally diverse and Arab-majority communities of Dearborn and Detroit to parents who immigrated from Lebanon in the seventies. Saad’s father still owns and operates a wholesale meat business in Detroit’s Eastern Market. Saad has described herself as "the product of the American dream," and has credited her family's success as immigrants for her belief in America as the land of opportunity for those who work hard at it. Saad graduated from the University of Michigan in 2004 with a bachelor’s degree in political science and Psychology, and a master’s degree in Public Policy in 2009. In 2014, Saad earned a second master’s degree from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Career

Long active in Michigan's politics, Saad's career spans campaign staffing, community organizing and immigration issues at the local, state and national levels. Between 2004-2008, Saad worked as a field organizer for John Kerry's and Gino Polidori's campaigns. Saad also worked for the Barack Obama campaign in 2008, and the Hillary Clinton campaign in 2016. Her organizing work targeted Arab American community relations, voter registration, civic engagement and advocacy strategies through the National Network for Arab American Communities and the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services.  A practicing Muslim, Saad believes that her 2018 candidacy offers voters the opportunity to relate personally to her as a Muslim and as an American: "This is my opportunity to help them meet one and see that there's nothing to be afraid of. We have so much more in common than we do different."

In 2015, Saad was appointed the first director of Detroit's Office of Immigrant Affairs where she focused on three specific initiatives: to connect Detroit's immigrant communities to the city's resources, to bring in new immigrant communities through Detroit's refugee settlement programs and immigrant visa programs, and finally to integrate both old and new immigrant communities with the city. Saad has been outspoken in her support of immigrants: "Immigrants are very entrepreneurial. Twenty-eight percent of small businesses in the U.S. are owned by immigrants or started by immigrants. Furthermore, immigrants don’t take away from the community; they really give back.

2018 Congressional Campaign

The most recent data on the demographic make-up of the US congress shows that while the US population is slightly over 50 percent female, women make up 19% of the total number of lawmakers. More than 90 percent of members also identified as Christian. "If we want to have a representative democracy and a representative government, then those have to be elected leaders as well," Saad commented on her impetus to run for congress in 2018. Saad's endorsements include Democracy for America, Justice Democrats and Common Defense.

Saad's campaign themes include growing Michigan's economy including raising minimum wage to $15 an hour, medicare for all, debt-free college and trade school, comprehensive immigration reform including defense of DACA and pathways to citizenship, counter terrorism, border security and domestic policing reforms, closing the gender pay gap, and protecting the environment against corporate polluters. Saad stated that her campaign is about "progressive politics": “More than anything, I’m running as a progressive and trying to get people back on the message." "“When you knock on doors, no one asks you about your religion. People ask about fixing health care and immigration,” Saad said.

The Republican incumbent in Michigan's 11th district, David Trott, is not seeking reelection in 2018.

The Democratic and Republican primaries in Michigan are on August 7, 2018. The general election is on November 6, 2018.