There’s a phone call that some people in metro Detroit are dreading right now, one where you find out the place you came from doesn’t exist anymore.

Abbas Alawieh got that call recently. His 91-year-old grandmother’s home in Lebanon was destroyed by the Israeli military. She is displaced, among hundreds of thousands of Lebanese civilians with nowhere to go. This is not the first time his family has been through this. 

When Alawieh was 15, visiting his grandmother in Lebanon, war broke out with Israel. He spent days in a basement while American-made bombs fell around him. It changed the course of his life and put him on a political path.

Alawieh grew up in Dearborn. He co-founded the Uncommitted movement that mobilized more than 100,000 Michigan voters in the 2024 Democratic primary. 

He is now a candidate for Michigan State Senate in District 2, which covers Dearborn, Dearborn Heights, and parts of Downriver. But he did not sit down with The Metro’s Robyn Vincent to talk about his campaign. The Metro invited him because he is experiencing what other families across metro Detroit are living right now — watching war destroy the people and places they love from an American living room.

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Abbas Alawieh is running for state senator in District 2. The newly drawn district includes Dearborn, Dearborn Heights and parts of Allen Park and Detroit. 

“I think in this really difficult moment, this divisive moment in our politics, I want to run to represent every single person in District 2 like they’re my own family,” he says.

Experience

Alawieh previously worked on Capitol Hill for U.S. Representatives Andy Levin and Rashida Tlaib. He also served as chief of staff to Congresswoman Cori Bush. 

He co-founded the Uncommitted National Movement, which aimed to pressure then presidential candidate Kamala Harris to address U.S. policy on the war in Gaza. 

“My specific experience is at the intersection of being on the inside of government and knowing how it works, and then mobilizing people, voters, reaching folks who our party, our system has lost touch with,” he shares. 

Prioritizing local needs

Alawieh says the Democratic party focusing on war takes away from local issues.

“What that actually does is it deprioritizes the needs of working families here at home,” he says.

He’s focused on caring for people like family.

“My priority is going to be representing every single person like they’re family to me. And so I have to enter this next period of my service really listening and learning,” he explains.

Alawieh says he grew up in a family that values service. 

“Service of community is something that is deeply entrenched in my own family’s experience,” he says.

He hopes to bring in as many resources as possible to District 2. 

“I want to become a state senator that wields the power of a movement of people that will come together around this campaign to say, ‘hey, District 2 is here to play. ’ We’re going to show up with our values, with our leverage, with our people power.” 

The election for State Senator takes place on November 3.