Abraham Lincoln Impersonator will Challenge Dearborn Mayor in November

A self-professed handyman and Abraham Lincoln impersonator will challenge Mayor John B. O’Reilly, Jr. in November for Dearborn’s top office.

With 100 percent of the city’s primary election ballots counted Tuesday night, Edward Binkley received 989 votes to O’Reilly’s 8,592. Candidates Nofila Haidar (828), Ziad Abdulmalik (317) and Tahir Hassan AlAragy (294) were also on the ballot. There were 66 write-in votes.

Of the 61,120 registered voters in Dearborn, 11,795 cast a ballot.

Binkley said he appreciates the support from residents who took the time to research the mayoral candidates' platforms and came out to vote.

"I honestly thought I would receive 100 votes. I had no money for political signs or campaigning, other than passing out business cards," he said. "The curator at the Dearborn Historical Museum told me to quit my campaign, but I was determined to try."

Binkley said he wanted to run for office so that he could "make positive changes" in the city, such as restoring the historical museum's operating budget, re-opening Snow Library, and increasing the police presence in local neighborhoods.

"If I am elected mayor in November, I will do my best to rid the city of crime as much as I can," he said.

Binkley said he would even go as far as refusing O'Reilly's reported salary of $131,133.

"I don't need $100,000. I live off of my Social Security. That salary could be donated back to the city," he said.

O’Reilly said he was pleased with the results of the primary, and is looking forward to talking with residents in the weeks and months ahead.

“We have a lot of unfinished business,” O’Reilly said. “We’ve been dealing with a drastic loss of property value in recent years, which correlates to the loss of revenue for Dearborn.

“We’ve made some improvements to how we operate in terms of city services, but we need to come up with some permanent solutions. We have to look at where we want to be 20 years from now in order to continue to position Dearborn for the next generation.”

O’Reilly has been mayor since 2006. He’s running for his second full term, and was previously the city council president from 1990 to 2006.

“In the past four years, we’ve made some structural changes without sacrificing services. I’m very proud of then work we’ve been able to accomplish with our employees.”

To see a full list of unofficial results, click here.