16-06-2025
Here's who is running for Detroit mayor in the 2025 election
Detroit mayoral candidates are gearing up to win a spot in the August primary election to secure the seat as the city's next top leader.
Mayor Mike Duggan will leave the role after 12 years to run for Michigan governor as an independent candidate, leaving Detroit's top seat open in a crowded field of candidates without an incumbent. Others can still file to run as a write-in candidate by July 25 for the Aug. 5 primary.
Here are the nine candidates vying for votes in the primary election.
The Detroit City Council president got a head start on the field by forming her candidate committee in August 2023, giving her an early lead on fundraising. Sheffield, who attended Southfield-Lathrup High School, has been a council member since 2013, when she was elected the youngest member, and later selected as council president in her current term.
She has a mixed record of supporting large developments, including voting in favor of a $60 million tax abatement for Bedrock's Hudson's site development, and voting against providing more than $800 million in tax credits to Olympia Development's District Detroit project.
Sheffield has promised to focus on several key areas if elected, including property tax reform; investing in walkable neighborhoods and safe communities, which includes the police department and Community Violence Intervention programs; as well as addressing affordable housing and economic development.
Jenkins formerly served as Detroit City Council president and resigned early to pursue the chief executive role with The Heat and Warmth Fund nonprofit that helps those facing utility shutoffs. The Cass Technical High School alum said she aims to tackle the role by rooting herself in the community and leaning on her executive experience.
As she often says: the mayor is "CEO of the city." Her "Saunteel Six" mayoral policies include: creating a master plan for each district to address their needs; investing in after-school and community center programs in art, sports and technology; prioritizing safe neighborhoods by cracking down on violence, bullying and adding community policing; creating career programs and pathways for young Detroiters; and supporting greater access to child care, affordable housing for renters and owners, and providing seniors with support.
The Detroit City Councilman and former state representative has long-supported many of Duggan's initiatives for new developments in Detroit, as well as fighting the "Us vs. Them" politics, a narrative in which people claim the city's focus is on downtown versus the neighborhoods.
He went to Detroit Public Schools, including the Detroit School of Arts. Durhal says his priorities include: investing in commercial corridors and walkable communities; expanding the Downtown Development Authority's boundaries, potentially on main corridors such as Gratiot, Woodward and Michigan Avenues; enhancing public safety; partnerships with the Detroit Public Schools Community District to provide programming and infrastructure for the youth; pushing the Detroit Promise program, which provides a tuition-free pathway for Detroit college and university students; and re-engage discussions about boosting regional transit.
The Triumph Church pastor and Northwestern High School alum said he expects to run his church simultaneously with his role as mayor, if elected, saying he will serve as a full-time mayor and leave much of the daily responsibilities of the church to his executive team.
Kinloch said his priorities include: building 10,000 affordable housing units through down payment assistance programs; reducing poverty and crime, including building more grocery stores to eliminate food deserts; expanding Detroit's revival into the neighborhoods, which he's called a "tale of two cities," claiming the benefits amid the city's resurgence have not reached everyone; maintaining basic services such as trash pick-up and emergency response times; and investing in workforce training.
Nicknamed "Hollywood Craig" for his television appearances on the department's relationship with the community, James Craig held multiple stints as deputy mayor, and police chief in Portland, Maine, Cincinnati and Los Angeles before running the Detroit Police Department from 2014 to 2021. He graduated from Cass Technical High School and ran for governor in 2022 as a Republican, though he was knocked off the ballot after failing to get enough valid signatures.
He also began a U.S. Senate run in 2024, but he suspended his campaign to eye a run for Detroit mayor. Craig flexes his relationship with the White House and President Donald Trump as an asset to help draw federal money to the city. Naturally, boosting public safety is among Craig's top stated priorities, but others include: investing in schools and neighborhoods, boosting economic opportunities and building out small businesses.
Although multiple candidates promise to invest in neighborhoods, Detroit attorney Todd Perkins has declared himself the "neighborhood mayor" at his campaign launch. Perkins graduated from the University of Detroit Jesuit High School and spent his career pursuing civil and criminal litigation, along with helping lead the 2021 ballot initiative to create a Detroit Reparations Task Force.
As mayor, Perkins said he expects to improve public safety, mass transit, create more housing, and grow employment in an effort to boost economic activity and spur population growth. He also said he plans to salvage structures instead of demolishing them, and provide jobs to Detroiters to renovate homes, along with conducting a forensic audit of city hall operations to ensure more transparency and accountability.
The former businessman said he has a long list of priorities he aims to tackle if elected mayor. Haashiim, who went to Cooley High School and once ran a party store, said he aims to bring in high-paying jobs, reduce crime and establish a program for citizens returning from incarceration.
He also said he expects to drive up Detroit's population, which Duggan's administration battled in recent years with the U.S. Census Bureau; eradicate homelessness; rethink massive tax abatements for large developers; and address affordable housing.
The Renaissance High School graduate dubs himself an entrepreneur, and served as a basketball coach at Renaissance High School and University Prep Academy High School, as well as a youth pastor at Mt. Pleasant Missionary Baptist Church, according to his campaign website. Barlow said he aims to boost businesses by providing small businesses tax incentives, and establishing a growth business fund to provide them with low-interest loans and grants.
Barlow also said he expects to launch workforce development programs for advanced manufacturing, electric vehicle and technology industries; subsidized transit for workers; expand affordable and mixed-income housing; launch a zero or low-interest loan program for residents and provide financial literacy on homeownership; and prevent homelessness.
The three-time mayoral candidate grew up on the city's east side and ran her campaign on improving Detroit's water infrastructure in an effort to prevent flooding from heavy rainfall and ensuring lower water bills, along with reducing crime and gun violence and developing neighborhoods.
Simpson is from a family of prominent leaders, whose uncle is Elijah Muhammad, the former leader of the Nation of Islam. She said she expects to hold the same priorities she held in the 2021 race, along with having more input in Detroit's school system to help boost reading levels, Simpson has told WXYZ.
Dana Afana is the Detroit city hall reporter for the Free Press. Contact: dafana@ Follow her: @DanaAfana.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit mayoral candidates: Who's running in 2025 election
