WASHINGTON (AP) — Detroit voters will take an important step towards choosing a new mayor in the city’s primary on Tuesday. First open seat mayor race in decades.
The top two voters in the nonpartisan primary will advance to the general election in November. The winner will replace the third-term mayor of the voice-over, Mike Duggan. I’m running for the governor Michigan as an Independence.
The crowded areas include former police chief James Craig, city council member Fred Dullhal, former city council president Santel Jenkins, pastor Solomon Kinlock of Victory Church, lawyer Todd Perkins, and current city council president Mary Sheffield. The run also features businessmen Jonathan Barlow and Joel Hassiim, and three mayoral hopeful Danetta Simpson.
Sheffield leads the field in campaign fundraising. She has brought in nearly $1.3 million since she entered the race in December. Kinloch raised about $408,000, while Perkins and Durhal raised more than $250,000 each. Sheffield also had about $451,000 in the bank heading for the last two weeks of stretch before the primary, with more than double the remaining on the field.
Sheffield’s main support includes the Detroit Free Press and the Michigan chapter of the Seiu Labor Union. Jenkins was approved by the Detroit News and former mayor Dave Bin, Duggan’s predecessor. Dahal is supported by mayors of Lansing, Grand Rapids and Pontiac, all of whom are former colleagues in the state legislature.
Michigan voters do not register by party, and mayoral candidates are not run by party labels, but most candidates on the ground identify with Democrats. Meanwhile, Craig is a Republican and seeks a GOP nomination for the governor in 2022 and the US Senate in 2024.
Voters in Detroit are overwhelmingly democratic. In 2024, city voters supported Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, a ratio of about 9-1 over Republican Donald Trump.
The city is facing Very different situations That was more than when Duggan was first elected in 2013. That July it became the largest US city ever Files for bankruptcy. The city currently has a surplus budget, a 12-year balanced budget. Projected economic growth The next five years. Murder and violent crimes According to the US Census, the city’s population has grown for the second year in a row.
Still, the next mayor will face many challenges, including a lack of affordable housing and vast economic disparities along racial boundaries.
The Associated Press does not make predictions and declares winners only if it is determined that there is no scenario in which subsequent candidates can fill the gap. If race is not called, the AP will continue to cover newsworthy developments, such as candidate concessions and declarations of victory. In doing so, the AP makes it clear that it has not yet declared a winner and explains why.
Michigan’s mandatory re-assembly law does not apply to Detroit’s mayoral primary. Instead, candidates can request and pay for a recount, and payment is refunded if the recount changes the outcome. The AP can declare a winner in the race that is eligible for recounting if it can determine that the recount or legal challenge is too big to change the outcome.
Let’s see what we expect on Tuesday:
Major Days
The Detroit mayoral primary will take place on Tuesday. Voting will close at 8pm (East US).
What are the votes?
The AP will provide the results of the vote and declare the winner in the nonpartisan primary for the Detroit mayor. Detroit, like Michigan cities and towns, will host various other local elections on Tuesday, but will not be included in the Associated Press voting tally.
Who will vote?
Voters registered in Detroit can participate in the mayoral primary.
What does turnout and advance voting look like?
As of late July, Detroit had around 518,000 registered voters.
In the 2021 mayoral primary, voter turnout was about 14% of registered voters. Approximately 67% of the votes in that election were thrown before the main day.
As of Thursday, more than 41,000 votes had been voted before the main day. Michigan has adopted early in-person voting since the 2024 election season.
How long does it usually take to count voting?
In the August 2024 state primary, the Associated Press first reported results in Wayne County at 8:21 PM ET or 21 minutes after the poll was over. The election night tally ended at 9:17am the following day, with about 98% of the total vote counting.
Are we there already?
As of Tuesday, there are 91 days until the general election for Detroit Mayor in November.
