Nasser Beydoun

Nasser Beydoun (born 1964/1965) is an American business executive and political candidate. He is the former chief executive officer of the Qatar-based Wataniya Restaurants group. Beydoun was the executive director of the Arab American Chamber of Commerce and chair of the Arab American Civil Rights League. He was the first Arab American liaison to the Arab League.

Beydoun was a Democratic Party candidate in the 2024 United States Senate election in Michigan. His nominating petitions were rejected on May 31, 2024, by the Michigan Board of State Canvassers because he used a P.O. Box as his address on the petitions, instead of his legal street address. The Michigan Court of Appeals rejected his appeal of the Board of State Canvassers on June 7, 2024.

Early life Beydoun was born in Beirut, Lebanon, to Najla and Mohamed Beydoun. His family was from Bint Jbeil and his grandfather represented the town in the Parliament of Lebanon. Beydoun's grandfather remained in Lebanon, but his father immigrated to Detroit in 1969 when Beydoun was five years old. Beydoun completed bachelor's and master's degrees in business administration at the University of San Diego. He tried opening several business, including a tortilla factory. He was later stuck in the country for 15 months after his employer and sponsor denied his exit permit.

In November 2023, Beydoun alleged that former Michigan Democratic Party chair Lon Johnson had approached him with an offer of $20 million from a pro-Israel lobbying group to drop out of the Senate race and launch a primary challenge against United States Representative Rashida Tlaib despite Beydoun's publicly pro-Palestinian stance. Johnson repeatedly denied the claims, saying, "that's just crazy. I didn't offer him $20 million, or any other amount of money, to run against Rashida. That's insane."

Personal life Beydoun married Maysa Beydoun, a Canadian of Lebanese descent, with whom he has three children. He later married Nancy Jaafar.