Meet Abraham Aiyash

“We need to reimagine our politics of one of possibility, where we center social, economic, environmental, and racial justice.”

Majority Floor Leader Abraham Aiyash is serving his second full term and represents the 9th House District, a diverse community that covers Detroit’s Eastside, Downtown and Hamtramck communities.

Aiyash is Michigan’s first Muslim in House majority leadership, setting House priorities in a legislative term where Democrats have the majority for the first time in over a decade. His priorities include protecting the rights of all people, championing solutions to address social and health disparities in poor and working-class communities, clean energy and environmental stewardship, and stronger consumer protections in Michigan.

Aiyash decided to run for office as a part of his deep and lifelong commitment to public service. The son of immigrants, Aiyash’s value of service was taught by his parents — a homemaker in Hamtramck and an UAW auto worker in Detroit.

Aiyash began working as an organizer for the 2008 Obama campaign. After studying at James Madison College at Michigan State University, Aiyash founded a nonprofit that mentored refugee youth and then went on to work for the Michigan House of Representatives. He worked to engage the community to fight back against a corporation expanding a toxic waste site on the Hamtramck-Detroit border.

While working in Lansing, he recognized the need to build the bench of public service with shared lived experiences of the communities they represent. Aiyash served as the political leadership director for Michigan United, the state’s largest progressive advocacy group. Born and raised in Michigan, Leader Aiyash represents his hometown and lives in the neighborhood that raised him. Aiyash enjoys FIRST Robotics, hiking, sports journalism, technology, and coffee.

Michigan's Ninth State House District is diverse. MI House District 9 has a rich community with many people across different racial, religious, ethnic, and socio-economic backgrounds. We need leadership that has a record of sharing our similarities, and celebrating our differences. Abraham is that leader.