The Ann Arbor Tenants Union endorses Dave Zeglen for Ward 4 Councilmember, Yousef Rabhi for Mayor

The Ann Arbor Tenants Union proudly endorses Yousef Rabhi for Mayor of Ann Arbor and Dave Zeglen for Ward 4 Councilmember.

Yousef began his career as an organizer and activist and has served as Washtenaw County Commissioner twice, from 2011-2016 and from 2023 to present as well as a State Representative from 2017-2022. He has a long record of standing up to corporations and corporate-backed politicians. Yousef has attended several AATU meetings to listen to tenant concerns and incorporate them into his housing platform. Yousef recently introduced the policy to ban ICE from Washtenaw County property in solidarity with our immigrant community.

Dave is a labor organizer and social justice activist and has organized for years for Palestine liberation, the Black Lives Matter movement, anti-ICE protests, and LEO and GEO organizing here in Ann Arbor. Dave has walked countless picket lines in support of local union efforts. Dave is also himself a renter in Ann Arbor, a perspective we believe will be incredibly valuable on a City Council populated by homeowners.

The affordability crisis in Ann Arbor is worse than ever, with rental prices equivalent to Washington DC and Chicago. We have seen Ann Arbor landlords and the corporate housing lobby act against the interests of our community again and again—opposing the recent bans on junk fees, ignoring repairs while raising rents, threatening tenant organizers, and pricing students and local Ann Arborites out of their city. Voters in Ann Arbor must prioritize immediate protections for tenants and strong public investment over trickle-down housing policy and corporate interests. More than anything, Ann Arbor needs a movement of workers and tenants that can fight for our own interests—we cannot wait for corporations or legislators to save us.

Yousef and Dave are two strong and bold voices of that movement of the working class, and the Ann Arbor Tenants Union is proud to endorse both of them. Both candidates have committed themselves to expanding public housing and producing incentives to create more affordable housing; they have also backed AATU’s Tenants Bill of Rights Campaign, which supports expanding tenant rights through introducing protections against housing discrimination, increasing access to counsel during eviction, and enforcing increased rental transparency.

We look forward to working with both candidates throughout their campaign and tenure in office to bring new affordable housing and a more dignified life for tenants in Ann Arbor.