4 days ago
Kinloch faces tall task against Sheffield in Detroit mayor contest in November
The Brief
Solomon Kinloch and Mary Sheffield will go against one another in the general election to decide Detroit's next mayor.
Sheffield earned more than 50% of the vote during the August Primary
Meanwhile, Detroit is fending off a lawsuit alleging a lack of transparency during the vote-counting process
DETROIT (FOX 2) - What will Solomon Kinloch have to do?
That's the big question hovering over Detroit politics after Mary Sheffield romped to a resounding victory in the mayoral primary. Both candidates will face off in the general election to decide the city's next leader.
Big picture view
When the dust settled after a busy August Primary, the Detroit City Council President earned a majority of every vote cast in the first round of voting to be the next mayor.
Sheffield scored more than 43,000 votes, netting her 50.6% of the total vote in the mayoral race and 28,000-more votes than second place.
That means the tall task of making the race to be Detroit's next mayor falls to Kinloch, the pastor who earned almost 15,000 votes. He beat out Saunteel Jenkins by a little over a thousand votes to make the run-off.
The next few months will be crucial if he plans to make up ground.
"What Rev. Kinloch will have to do is treat this campaign like he treated his church in the beginning," said Adolph Mongo. "He had six people. He grew it to 40,000. He's gonna have to get down and dirty."
Mongo, a political analyst with an in-depth vantage of Detroit politics, said Kinloch will need to take aim at Sheffield's base.
Dig deeper
Just like previous primary races, voter turnout was low on Aug. 5. Approximately 86,000 residents voted in the election.
The majority of those votes were from absentee ballots.
More are expected to participate in the general election in November, which means more voters will be up for grabs. But if August's election result was indicative of anything, Kinloch will need to turn some Sheffield supporters against her.
Beyond the story
Outside of candidate races was another drama playing out in Detroit politics - this one focused on an activist's lawsuit against the election department.
Robert Davis claimed Detroit City Clerk Janice Winfrey failed to disclose where absentee ballots were counted and who did the counting. He took his complaint to court on Tuesday, requesting information about the counting process.
He said the lawsuit provides a basis for a candidate that lost the race to challenge the results, arguing the city didn't obey transparency rules while counting ballots.
Winfrey's office called the suit baseless.
"Robert Davis obviously needs something to do. He must be bored with life. We at the Department of elections are not his entertainment. His lawsuit is both frivolous and wasteful," read a statement from the clerk.
The Source
Interviews with a political analyst, a litigator, and previous reporting were used in this story.
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