As it turns out, guys with Arab names aren't so popular with Republican voters. 😂

"Rejecting a Muslim-sounding name"

Here's the irony: Hassan is neither Arab nor Muslim.

His grandparents moved to Michigan from Arkansas and Alabama in the 1930s and 1940s along with many other black families to work for General Motors and other Detroit-based factories.

Hassan has expressed a Christian faith and heritage. He was born in Flint, a black-majority town, and went on to enlist in the Navy in 2006 and graduate with a criminal justice degree before working as a federal law enforcement officer with Homeland Security and the Defense Department.

Trump had endorsed Hassan in June:

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So why the name?

Well, Arab/Muslim names became extremely popular in black culture in the mid-20th century as a way of rejecting "slave names," including figures like Muhammed Ali, who joined the black-nationalist cult Nation of Islam.

(Ironic, considering that Muslim Arabs enslaved millions of Africans too!)

For whatever reason Hassan's family has the name, it didn't help him against the retired Buick supervisor who has a normal English name.

Smith had dropped out of the race in July to endorse Al Lemmo, a retired engineer in the Army's Tank‑Automotive Research, Development, and Engineering Center. Lemmo called Hassan a "Trojan horse" candidate - one who is secretly liberal but running as a Republican.

Lemmo only got 16% of the vote, however.

Instead, 50% of voters picked Smith (and 33% voted for Hassan).

In a Wednesday-morning statement, Smith said he was "humbled and honored that Republicans have chosen me to take the fight to Kristen McDonald Rivet," the one-term Democrat incumbent for Michigan's 8th district (stretching north of Detroit into Michigan's "thumb").

I'm not trashing either candidate here.

I'm just here to report the news!