Detroit could see the first Black woman mayor in the majority Black city’s history as City Council President Mary Sheffield leads the race several points ahead of local religious leader Rev. Solomon Kinloch Jr. of Triumph Church.
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Around 17.7% of Detroiters say public safety is one of the top three major challenges faced by their households, followed by neighborhood conditions (16.4%), employment (15%), housing (14.9%), transportation (14.2%), schools (12.5%) and getting the food they need (12%).
Sheffield has pledged to focus on improving public transportation, educational equity, and tackling gun violence, and she has the benefit of pointing to her City Council resume to back up such aspirations.
On keeping the National Guard overreach out of the city, Sheffield said she is “ going to remain focused on doing whatever I can.” She added, “That includes having a comprehensive and coordinated approach to how we address public safety, one that is rooted in strong partnerships with law enforcement and community.”
While maintaining his role at Triumph, Kinloch has pledged to fight crime (which has fallen in the city), create more affordable housing in the city and foster economic development—but voters have been skeptical of his way of going about these efforts after he gave a non-no answer about whether he would support President Trump deploying the National Guard to fight crime in the city.
Early polling also projects Sheffield ahead of Kinloch in November, but the reverend has rebuked the polling as too early to tell. Kinloch told Click on Detroit, “I don’t know who that poll is talking to because I’m out here in the street every day and that’s not the feedback we’re getting.” On creating a plan to improve Detroit, Kinloch says economic development has to be its “bedrock.”
“The best way to deal with poverty is opportunities … is with jobs,” Kinloch told Michigan Public Radio. “As long as I’m still standing in my pulpit, eulogizing our children and our residents who’ve been taken from this life too soon, we have not gone far enough. And so we will continue to create a safe city.”
In the same vein, Sheffield says she wants every Detroiter to benefit and feel the city’s prosperity by focusing on economic equity.
“Everyone is not benefiting and feeling the prosperity of Detroit,” Sheffield said in an interview with Governing. “So, I think the next mayor has to ensure that the growth not only continues but that it reaches more people, that it goes to more neighborhoods and that is felt more equally throughout the city of Detroit.”
Sheffield cut her teeth as a political player supporting outgoing Mayor Mike Duggan’s tenure turning the city around from bankruptcy in 2013 and the emergency management that followed. Critics of the turnaround have accused Sheffield of serving big business interests over the needs of the people who have kept the city going through all of its changes—Kinloch being one of them. With no political experience to speak of beyond the pulpit, Kinloch cited voters feeling “ignored by local leaders” as reason for him to jump into the mayoral race. Whoever ultimately comes out on top in November will inherit the city at an important inflection point as the Great Lakes state prepares for a competitive 2026 governor race that could steer how voters lean in the 2028 presidential election.
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