Mary Sheffield wins Detroit mayoral election

DETROIT (AP) — City Council Speaker Mary Sheffield will be Detroit’s newest mayor and the first woman to lead the city.

Sheffield defeated popular megachurch minister Reverend Solomon Kinloch in Tuesday’s general election.

She will take office next January, replacing three-term Mayor Mike Duggan, who announced last year that he would not seek re-election. Duggan is running for Michigan governor as an independent to replace term-limited Democrat Gretchen Whitmer.

Sheffield will inherit a city that continues to improve after Detroit emerged in 2014 from the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history. Duggan was elected in 2013 and took office in January 2014. Under his direction, Detroit has dramatically improved city services, including shorter police response times, public lighting and the elimination of blight.

Detroit has had balanced budgets for 12 straight years, and the city has shown historically low numbers of violent crimes.

Its population has also increased after decades of losses. Earlier this year, the U.S. Census estimated Detroit’s population at 645,705 — an increase of 12,487 since the May 2024 estimate, according to the city.

Dugan’s office said the figure includes nearly 6,800 new residents in 2024 and nearly 5,700 people who were not counted in the 2021-2023 census.

Detroit had a population of 1.8 million in the 1950s.

Sheffield and Kinloch, both Democrats, advanced to Tuesday’s election after receiving the most votes in the city’s nonpartisan primary in August. She received nearly 51% of the vote in the primary, compared to Kinloch who received just over 17%.

Sheffield was first elected to the City Council in 2013 when she was 26 years old and has served as council president since 2022. Her father, Horace Sheffield III, is an activist and pastor of New Destiny Christian Fellowship Church.

Duggan endorsed her, calling Sheffield “the most qualified person, the best prepared, to be the next mayor.”

Sheffield said focusing on educating Detroit’s children and continuing to improve public safety and neighborhood life will be among her priorities if elected mayor.

“My commitment, Detroiter, is to build on the foundation that has been laid by working with Mayor Duggan and our Council… by expanding opportunity, strengthening our neighborhoods and making sure Detroit’s progress reaches every block and every family in this city,” Sheffield said alongside Duggan at a campaign event in September.

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