WASHINGTON AP - Detroit voters will take a key step toward choosing a new mayor in the municipal primary on Tuesday, when nine candidates will appear on the ballot in the city's first open-seat mayoral race in a dozen years.
The top two vote-getters in the nonpartisan primary will advance to the November general election. The winner will replace outgoing three-term Mayor Mike Duggan, who is running for governor of Michigan as an independent.
The crowded field includes former police chief James Craig, city council member Fred Durhal, former city council president Saunteel Jenkins, Triumph Church pastor Solomon Kinloch, attorney Todd Perkins and current city council president Mary Sheffield. Also in the running are businessmen Jonathan Barlow and Joel Haashiim and three-time mayoral hopeful DaNetta Simpson.
Sheffield leads the field in campaign fundraising. She brought in nearly 1.3 million since entering the race in December, more than double the roughly 574,000 Jenkins raised. Kinloch raised about 408,000, while Perkins and Durhal each raised more than 250,000. Sheffield also had about 451,000 in the bank heading into the final two-week stretch before the primary, more than double the rest of the field combined.
Sheffield's major endorsements include the Detroit Free Press and the Michigan branch of the SEIU labor union. Jenkins was endorsed by The Detroit News and former Mayor Dave Bing, Duggan's immediate predecessor. Durhal has the backing of the mayors of Lansing, Grand Rapids and Pontiac, all of whom are former colleagues from the state Legislature.