4 days ago
Live updates: Michigan primary election results 2025
Polls are closing across the region on a primary election for municipal races from Detroit to New Baltimore.
Detroiters voted today to winnow the field of 9 Detroit mayoral candidates down to the two who will face off in November to be the city's first new mayor in 12 years.
Seven other communities − Dearborn Heights, Hamtramck, Taylor, Sterling Heights, New Baltimore, Southfield and Pontiac − also held mayoral primaries. Additional races for other city officers, as well as funding proposals for schools and communities, were on some area ballots.
Get live primary election results and updates from across southeast Michigan below.
Michigan primary election results 2025
Detroit and Wayne County primary races, ballot proposals
Macomb County primary races, ballot proposals
Oakland County primary races, ballot proposals
3 p.m. Using artificial intelligence for candidate research
Outside of Harwood Elementary School in Sterling Heights, Joseph Hunter, 39, turned to ChatGPT to help him seek out the more progressive candidates. Only one name came up: Michael V. Radtke Jr.
Hunter dug deeper and checked the sources that the artificial intelligence relied on. He said he also planned to vote for Robert Mijac, Maria G. Schmidt, Barbara A. Ziarko and Deanna Koski.
Hunter works for LGBT Detroit and moved to Sterling Heights a couple of years ago. He said he has had mostly positive experiences with city government, except for the police department. Hunter detailed an experience he had after parking his car to see a movie. An officer started questioning him, asking him what he was doing there and insinuating that he does drugs, Hunter said.
'So when I really sit back and think about what I hope city council can do, I would say something about policing to where it's not as hostile to people of color,' he said.
-Clara Hendrickson
1:30 p.m. Young Detroiter votes in 'historic mayoral race'
Mia Elzy, 29, voted in northwest Detroit on Tuesday, Aug. 5.
"I always participate in the voting process and it's a historic mayoral race," she said, noting that current Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan isn't on the ballot for the first time in over a decade, as he has launched an independent campaign for Michigan Governor instead.
She was torn between candidates, but landed on Saunteel Jenkins, and admires the work she's done running a nonprofit providing energy assistance to low-income residents.
Elzy voted after 1 p.m. and was the 21st voter at her precinct, but noted there could be significant absentee ballot participation as well. She'd like to see more effort to engage people, remind them to vote, and make sure they can get time off work to vote, because sometimes the date comes up quickly.
"People live such busy lives that sometimes they forget," Elzy said.
-Emily Lawler
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan primary election results 2025: Live updates
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