I’m Seema Ahmad and I’m running to serve as your state representative for Michigan's 7th District. As a community organizer whose political career started as an Obama campaign staffer, a public policy graduate from Harvard, a lawyer, a senior analyst for the City of Detroit , a mother who raised her three boys in Michigan, and as an immigrant from this community who loves this community, I am driven to build this community to be safer and more affordable.

Our beloved district is far behind the rest of Detroit, the state and nation in many areas. First, we are a district of renters. We only have 39% homeownership. Only 4 in 10 residents own the homes they live in, whereas it is 6 in 10 in the rest of the state and the nation. 13 in 100 are unemployed There is only one acute care full-service inpatient hospital in the district generates $576M in Medicare, Medicaid and Affordable Care Act funds - $550M goes to hospitals outside the district - only $25M goes to 11 outpatient clinics serving the residents in the district. We have one of the highest homicide rates in the nation. 3 in 10 commit homicide here, whereas it is 5 in 100 in the rest of the state and nation.

I have a dream to make this community work for all of us - through affordable housing, skilled trade jobs, living wages, fully funded healthcare, a hospital in our district, equitably funded schools, & community policing. If we can make it in other places, we can also make it here. We don’t need to reinvent the wheel. The solutions exist - from community land trusts in Vermont to weighted school funding in California. Together, we’ll bring them home to our district.

I’ve dedicated my life to activism and serving communities—from the Obama Campaign, to campaigning for the Affordable Care Act and comprehensive immigration reform. I was selected as a delegate by the Michigan Democratic Party to attend the 2012 Democratic national convention. 

I've worked as a consultant to reduce cost and increase efficiency in government. I've also conducted ground-breaking policy analysis for the US Department of Justice to reduce price-fixing so communities become more affordable across the US. 

But the long-neglected affordability and safety issues in our community and the increased threats to our freedoms motivated me to run for office.

I realized that I could bring that fight and fresh energy to Hamtramck, Highland Park and surrounding Detroit. 

My federal policy work of lowering cost all across the US and of bringing people together in our community, neighbor to neighbor, makes me the best advocate to get things done for you.

We need state leaders to safeguard our communities from the federal government. We also need to push our community to nail the basics on homeownership, jobs, healthcare, safety, schools, and bringing down costs so neighbors can stay in our community.

Hamtramck, Highland Park, and Detroit, let’s build a brighter future together. Join our campaign to win a better deal in Michigan.