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2028 Michigan House Seat District 15 · Dearborn Heights & Dearborn Electrical Engineer · DSA

Power To The
Working Class

Tamim Allhaji is an electrical engineer, lifelong Dearborn Heights resident, and Democratic Socialist running for Michigan State House District 15 (Dearborn Heights & Dearborn) to take on DTE Energy, end Ecorse Creek flooding, and fight for working families at the State Capitol.

“You’ve been last on their list. You’ll be first on mine.”

Join the Campaign → Explore the Platform
★
السلطة للشعب! · Power to the People! · Dearborn Heights & Dearborn
Tamim Allhaji, candidate for Michigan House District 15, wearing a navy suit in an outdoor setting
Tamim Allhaji
Electrical Engineer · District 15
AUG 2028
$0
Corporate PAC Money
100% Grassroots & Worker-Funded
5,500
Votes to Win Primary
Based on ~8,500 Expected Turnout
14+ Days
Outage Exposure
Holding DTE Monopoly Accountable
~2 Years
Democratic Primary
Aug 8, 2028 · 675d (00h 00m 00s)
Emergency Infrastructure Crisis

The Grid Is Broken. The Creek Is Rising.

In Wayne County, working families suffer the highest electricity rates in the Midwest while sitting in the dark during routine rainstorms. And when the power fails, residential sump pumps die—sending the flooded waters of Ecorse Creek pouring into our basements.

The Corporate Status Quo

How DTE Energy Runs Michigan

  • × Highest Electric Rates in the Midwest: 23.05¢ per kilowatt-hour (EIA, July 2026), while corporate executives pocket tens of millions in bonuses.
  • × The Load Is Coming. The Bill Is Yours: DTE is lining up 3–7 GW of data-center demand. A single 1.4 GW facility equals roughly a quarter of its entire system load — and residential customers are on the hook for the wires and generation behind it.
  • × Over 96 Hours in the Dark: Rotting wooden poles and delayed maintenance cause chronic multi-day blackouts, ruining groceries and life-saving insulin.
  • × Power Cuts Cause Basement Floods: When neighborhood transformers blow, electric sump pumps fail, flooding thousands of Dearborn Heights homes with sewage.
  • × Regulatory Capture in Lansing: DTE and Consumers Energy spend millions lobbying state politicians to rubber-stamp rate hikes year after year.
The Democratic Socialist Plan

The People's Grid & Resilient Infrastructure

  • ✓ Public Power Michigan: Municipalize electrical distribution so power is run for the public good, eliminating corporate profit margins.
  • ✓ Mandatory Underground Lines: Force utilities to bury vulnerable neighborhood cables using corporate profits, not ratepayer surcharges.
  • ✓ $250M Ecorse Creek Stormwater Bonding: Direct state capital to dredge basins, decouple sanitary sewers, and fund 100% free backwater prevention valves.
  • ✓ Automatic $100/Day Outage Rebates: Force power companies to automatically credit customers for lost food, hotel stays, and damaged sump pumps.
Tamim Allhaji headshot
Tamim Allhaji
Lifelong Resident of Dearborn Heights
Electrical Engineer · Son of Syrian Immigrants
★ Dignity for Every Worker

“Every person in Michigan deserves to live a dignified life with the jobs they have. You work hard, you contribute to your community, and you shouldn’t have to struggle just to get by. No one should be denied the freedom, security, and ability to live the life they want.”

Meet The Candidate

From Dearborn Heights to the Grid to the State House

Tamim Allhaji is an electrical engineer, community organizer, and lifelong resident of Dearborn Heights running to represent Michigan’s 15th House District. The proud son of Syrian immigrants who made Wayne County their home, Tamim was raised on the principles of mutual aid, working-class resilience, and community responsibility.

Growing up in Dearborn Heights—a vibrant working-class hub connecting Arab American families, autoworkers, teachers, and small shop owners—Tamim saw firsthand how systemic neglect hurts working families. Whenever severe Midwest storms hit Wayne County, the North Branch of Ecorse Creek overflows. Neighborhood transformers explode in flashes of green light, electric sump pumps die in flooded basements, and families spend the night hauling sewage-soaked belongings up basement stairs.

“When an engineer sees a circuit failing, we don't offer corporate excuses. We redesign the system. That is exactly what we are going to do in the State House.”

In engineering school, Tamim learned the physics of electrical grids and fluid mechanics: redundant routing, automated reclosers, and subterranean distribution. He realized that Michigan’s failing grid and flooded basements are not unavoidable acts of nature—they are calculated corporate choices. DTE Energy extracts hundreds of millions in profit for Wall Street investors while letting our neighborhood transformers rot.

As a member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), Tamim is running a 100% grassroots campaign that refuses corporate PAC checks, utility monopoly cash, and corporate landlord money. Rooted in Dearborn Heights, he is fighting to build an economy engineered for the many, not the few.

Read the 8-Pillar Platform Join Tamim's Team
Systems Design vs Politics as Usual

Why We Need An Electrical Engineer in the State House

The State Capitol is filled with corporate lawyers who cash utility checks. Tamim understands circuits, loads, and infrastructure schematics—and answers only to our neighbors in Dearborn Heights and Dearborn.

Issue Area Typical Corporate Politician Tamim Allhaji (Electrical Engineer)
DTE Grid Blackouts & Rate Hikes Accepts campaign checks from DTE Energy PAC; votes to rubber-stamp MPSC rate hikes; issues boilerplate apology tweets during multi-day outages. Refuses utility PAC cash; analyzes circuit reliability metrics (SAIDI/SAIFI); introduces the Public Power Michigan Act to municipalize power and mandate buried power lines.
Data Center Boom Signs special utility deals behind closed doors and lets residential ratepayers carry the risk if the project downsizes or leaves early. Demands cost-causation before energization: 20-year take-or-pay, public capacity accounting, and community benefit agreements for Wayne County.
Ecorse Creek Basement Flooding Pours millions into redundant 5-year studies while Dearborn Heights basements fill with sewage; offers piecemeal buyouts that hollow out neighborhoods. Treats flooding as an urgent hydraulic engineering failure; secures $250M state infrastructure bonding for retention basins and universal free backwater valves.
Corporate Tax Handouts Hands multi-billion-dollar corporate subsidies to big developers without binding job guarantees or wage standards. Audits all state industrial subsidies; conditions state funding on binding union contracts, prevailing wage, and local hiring quotas for Wayne County residents.
Climate & Energy Transition Passes toothless aspirational targets while letting private utilities build gas-fired peaker plants in low-income neighborhoods. Designs distributed rooftop solar microgrids paired with community battery storage to ensure neighborhood critical facilities never lose power during storms.
Corporate Influence & Lobbying Takes gifts from corporate lobbyists; steps into lucrative private lobbying gigs within weeks of term-limiting out of the legislature. 0% corporate PAC money pledge; sponsors legislation to ban monopoly utility lobbying and institute a strict 5-year revolving-door ban.
Democratic Socialist Platform

Eight Pillars for Working-Class Power

Detailed legislative solutions backed by systems engineering and socialist solidarity.

PILLAR 01 · UTILITY JUSTICE

Public Power & The People’s Grid

PROPOSED LEGISLATION: PUBLIC POWER MICHIGAN ACT

The Crisis in District 15

DTE Energy operates as an extractive monopoly. Wayne County residents pay the highest electric rates in the Midwest while facing bottom-ranked grid reliability. Millions in profits are transferred to Wall Street shareholders while our wires rot and transformers blow during summer storms.

Tamim's Legislative Engineering Plan

  • ✓ Municipal Power Buyback: Authorize Wayne County municipalities to acquire private distribution grids and establish non-profit public utilities.
  • ✓ Mandatory Line Undergrounding: Require utilities to bury vulnerable neighborhood power lines paid directly from corporate operating revenue.
  • ✓ Automatic Hourly Outage Credits: Mandate $100/day direct bill refunds to customers when blackouts exceed 12 hours.
  • ✓ Data Center Cost Protection: Codify the ratepayer protections from MPSC Case U-22058 into statute — 20-year take-or-pay contracts, 80% minimum billing demand, and full cost recovery — so no residential customer subsidizes hyperscale load.
  • ✓ Ban Utility Campaign Donations: Prohibit regulated monopolies and executives from funding state political candidates.
PILLAR 02 · CLIMATE RESILIENCE

Ecorse Creek Flood Defense & Clean Water

PROPOSED LEGISLATION: ECORSE CREEK RESILIENCE ACT

The Crisis in District 15

For 40 years, the North Branch of Ecorse Creek has turned South Dearborn Heights into an unmanaged retention pond. Thousands of working-class homeowners on Currier, Powers, and Hanover streets suffer recurring raw sewage backups costing tens of thousands in uninsurable losses.

Tamim's Legislative Engineering Plan

  • ✓ $250M State Capital Outlay: Fund large-scale upstream detention basins along the Ecorse Creek watershed to absorb storm surges before reaching neighborhoods.
  • ✓ 100% Free Backwater Valve Retrofits: Direct state grants to install backflow preventers and dual-pump backup systems in every flood-prone home.
  • ✓ Stormwater-Sanitary Sewer Separation: Modernize municipal pipes so rainwater runoff never contaminates residential plumbing lines.
  • ✓ Emergency Basement Recovery Grants: Fast-track state disaster relief for uninsured property damage within 72 hours of major storm events.
PILLAR 03 · HOUSING FOR ALL

Housing Justice & Tenant Bill of Rights

PROPOSED LEGISLATION: MICHIGAN TENANT DIGNITY ACT

The Crisis in District 15

Out-of-state corporate private equity firms are buying single-family homes in Dearborn Heights, hiking rents by 30%, and neglecting essential maintenance. Senior homeowners on fixed incomes face mounting property tax pressures and predatory foreclosure threats.

Tamim's Legislative Engineering Plan

  • ✓ Repeal Michigan’s Rent Control Ban: Overturn the 1988 statute preventing municipalities from enacting local rent stabilization and anti-gouging caps.
  • ✓ Universal Right to Counsel: Guarantee free legal representation for all tenants facing eviction proceedings in the 20th and 19th District Courts.
  • ✓ Michigan Social Housing Authority: Finance union-built, publicly owned, mixed-income green housing that remains permanently affordable.
  • ✓ Senior Property Tax Circuit Breaker: Cap property tax liabilities at 3% of household income for fixed-income seniors aged 62 and older.
PILLAR 04 · WORKER SOLIDARITY

Labor Power & A Just Transition

PROPOSED LEGISLATION: WORKER SOVEREIGNTY ACT

The Crisis in District 15

Corporate bosses exploit misclassification loopholes and anti-union meetings to weaken labor organizing. In the transition to electric vehicles, corporations attempt to build non-union battery plants while pocketing billions in Michigan taxpayer subsidies.

Tamim's Legislative Engineering Plan

  • ✓ Ban Captive Audience Meetings: Outlaw mandatory employer anti-union propaganda sessions across Michigan workplaces.
  • ✓ Prevailing Wage on All Clean Energy: Require union-scale wages and certified apprenticeship ratios on every state-funded green project.
  • ✓ Protect UAW Autoworkers in the EV Era: Legally condition all state automotive incentives on binding union recognition and domestic job guarantees.
  • ✓ Repeal Remaining Anti-Labor Statutes: Eliminate restrictions on public sector collective bargaining and expand card-check recognition.
PILLAR 05 · HEALTH & ENVIRONMENT

Environmental Justice & MiCare Single Payer

PROPOSED LEGISLATION: WAYNE COUNTY CLEAN AIR & MICARE ACT

The Crisis in District 15

Wayne County suffers from "Asthma Alley"—industrial emissions from the Marathon refinery, steel mills, and diesel freight corridors produce pediatric asthma rates 3x the state average. Meanwhile, privatized health insurers deny coverage for life-saving care.

Tamim's Legislative Engineering Plan

  • ✓ Mandatory Cumulative Impact Permitting: Authorize EGLE to deny industrial permits if total neighborhood pollution burdens already exceed safe thresholds.
  • ✓ Reinstate 1990 Polluter Pays Laws: Force corporate polluters to pay 100% of remediation costs instead of dumping cleanups onto taxpayers.
  • ✓ Pass MiCare (Universal Healthcare): Establish a single-payer state healthcare system guaranteeing comprehensive medical, dental, and vision for all.
  • ✓ Abolish Medical Debt: Buy back and extinguish all predatory hospital medical debt impacting Wayne County working families.
PILLAR 06 · PUBLIC EDUCATION

Fully Funded Schools & Universal Childcare

PROPOSED LEGISLATION: FAIR SCHOOL EQUALIZATION ACT

The Crisis in District 15

School districts like Dearborn Heights D7, Crestwood, and Westwood contend with aging facilities, teacher shortages, and an inequitable state funding formula that penalizes working-class communities with lower property values.

Tamim's Legislative Engineering Plan

  • ✓ Overhaul the School Foundation Allowance: Weight state funding for student poverty, English language learners, and special education needs.
  • ✓ Universal Free Pre-K & Childcare: Guarantee high-quality early childhood education for all children ages 0-5 in Michigan.
  • ✓ Raise Educator & Staff Wages: Establish a $60,000 state minimum teacher salary and living wages for bus drivers, paraprofessionals, and food service staff.
  • ✓ Tuition-Free Public College & Trade School: Free tuition for Michigan residents at Wayne County Community College, Henry Ford College, and public universities.
PILLAR 07 · CIVIL LIBERTIES

Civil Rights & Arab-American Solidarity

PROPOSED LEGISLATION: MICHIGAN INCLUSION & CIVIL PRIVACY ACT

The Crisis in District 15

Arab American and Muslim communities across Wayne County have faced decades of discriminatory surveillance, federal watchlists, and bureaucratic language barriers that block immigrant families from accessing basic state services.

Tamim's Legislative Engineering Plan

  • ✓ End Discriminatory Surveillance: Ban state and local law enforcement from using automated biometric surveillance targeting ethnic and religious communities.
  • ✓ Universal Language Access: Mandate all state agencies (MDHHS, Secretary of State, EGLE) provide full translation in Arabic and Spanish.
  • ✓ Sanctuary Protections for Immigrants: Prohibit Michigan municipal and state police from collaborating with federal deportation agencies.
  • ✓ MENA Category Implementation: Ensure all Michigan health, education, and labor data accurately tracks Middle Eastern and North African communities.
PILLAR 08 · DEMOCRATIC REFORM

Clean Elections & Anti-Corruption

PROPOSED LEGISLATION: MICHIGAN CLEAN ELECTIONS ACT

The Crisis in District 15

Lansing operates under the thumb of corporate lobbyists. Out-of-state billionaires and monopoly PACs drown out grassroots voices, while legislators immediately transition into high-paying corporate lobbying roles after leaving office.

Tamim's Legislative Engineering Plan

  • ✓ Public Financing of Elections: Establish a 6:1 public matching fund for grassroots donations under $100 to empower working-class candidates.
  • ✓ 5-Year Lobbying Revolving-Door Ban: Prohibit former Michigan legislators and staff from lobbying state government for five years after term completion.
  • ✓ Divest State Pensions from Weapons Manufacturers: End Michigan pension fund investments in foreign apartheid regimes and war profiteering.
  • ✓ Full Financial Transparency: Require all state lawmakers to place financial assets in blind trusts and release full income tax filings annually.
Know Your District

Michigan House District 15

Representing Dearborn Heights and West Dearborn. Select your neighborhood to see our localized battle plan.

North Dearborn Heights 48127

Crestwood School District · Warren Ave & Ford Road corridors

South Dearborn Heights 48125 · Epicenter

District 7 (Annapolis) · Ecorse Creek Basin · Currier & Powers Streets

West Dearborn 48124 / 48128

Dearborn High cluster · Michigan Ave · Ford Auto Engineering Corridor

District 15 Fact
Population: 92,301 residents · Over 40% Arab-American · Home to thousands of active UAW Local 600 & Local 245 members and educators.
PRECINCT PROFILE ZIP 48125

South Dearborn Heights (Annapolis / Ecorse Creek)

Ground Zero for Ecorse Creek flooding. Repetitive toxic sewage backups and failing DTE circuit reliability. Priority: $250M state capital bonding for regional retention basins, 100% free backwater prevention valves, and lead service line replacement.

Public Schools: Dearborn Heights District No. 7, Annapolis High, O.W. Best
Key Corridors: Beech Daly, Telegraph Rd, Van Born Rd, Currier & Powers Streets
Primary Polling Site: Richard A. Young Recreation Center / Annapolis High
Neighborhood Captain: Marcus B. & Sarah M. — South Heights Field Captains
STRATEGIC ADVANTAGE WAYNE COUNTY ONLY

Our District, Our Neighbors: The 5,500 Vote Plan

Michigan House District 15 does not cover distant counties or Lansing suburbs. It is 100% contained within Dearborn Heights and Dearborn. That gives our working-class campaign a massive strategic advantage:

1. Door-to-Door Math

100% of our voters are our literal neighbors. To win the ~5,500 primary votes needed (based on ~8,500 expected turnout), Tamim and our DSA volunteer army can walk directly from home and knock on every single target voter's door.

2. Deep Syrian-American Roots

Tamim isn't a parachuted-in career politician from the party establishment. He lives right here in Dearborn Heights, shares the cultural, religious, and immigrant ties of our community, and suffers from the exact same flooded basements and DTE blackouts.

3. Zero Media Market Waste

We don't waste working-class donations on expensive TV ads across Southeast Michigan. We win through relational organizing: direct conversations in local mosques, union halls, coffee shops, and living rooms.

Organize With Us

Join the District 15 Field Army

Elections are not won by TV ads. They are won on front porches, in living rooms, and on shop floors.

1
Direct Neighborhood Canvassing Knocking doors with fellow workers across Dearborn Heights and West Dearborn.
2
Bilingual Arabic Outreach Connecting with Arab-American families in their native language to explain our public power and school funding platform.
3
Living Room House Meetings Host 10 neighbors in your home for an informal conversation with Tamim on utility justice and flood defense.
“The machine runs on their money. Our movement runs on our feet, our voices, and our solidarity.”
— Tamim Allhaji

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