Top left to right: Roy McCalister Jr., Renata Miller, Denzel McCampbell and Coleman Young and Mary Waters
Detroit voters went to the polls Tuesday to choose not only for their next mayor but at least two new council members.
Council reps in District 5 and District 7 did not seek reelection as they are running for mayor.
District 2 featured a primary race between the incumbent, the former council member before her, and a state representative whose state district overlaps with the district boundary.
Wide open was the race in District 5 to replace outgoing council president Mary Sheffield.
And in District 7, a polarizing state representative who has sided with Republican state House leaders over the leaders of her own party, will face an up-and-coming Democratic Socialist.
The primary race for at-large narrows the field to four candidates in the Nov. 4 general election. That race will feature incumbents Mary Waters and Coleman Young, former councilwoman Janee Ayers and fire chief James Harris.
Waters and Young both received over 30% of the total vote, with Ayers at 13.5% and Harris slightly above 7%, according to unofficial results.
The unofficial results on the city of Detroit’s website can be viewed here.
District 2: Former councilman to face incumbent in general election
Former council member Roy McCalister Jr. will challenge incumbent Councilwoman Angela Whitfield Calloway for the District 2 seat in November.
Whitfield Calloway received 44% of the vote after the city of Detroit updated its election results webpage shortly after midnight. McCalister Jr. received 30%, while state Rep. Helena Scott received 25%. The results webpage shows 14,134 total votes in the race.
District 2 is known as the city’s highest taxpaying district and one of the highest voting districts, as its boundary stretches from part of the city’s northwest side to the Highland Park city limit.
The district includes Gateway Marketplace, the 350,000-square-foot shopping center home to the Meijer on 8 Mile, the new transit center at the former Michigan State Fairgrounds at Woodward and 8 Mile, the Avenue of Fashion on Livernois and 7 Mile, Palmer Park, Palmer Woods, Sherwood Forest and University District.
City planners estimated redistricting changes will decrease District 2 by about 7,000 residents. Reapportioned City Council District boundaries and officially take effect on Jan. 1, 2026. Whitfield Calloway was the only council member last year who voted for a different redistricting map option to minimize the impact on her district.
Whitfield Calloway often stands alone on council, whether it’s opposing contracts with out of town businesses or Bedrock’s plan to redevelop the Renaissance Center. She often stands in the way of the mayor’s agenda on large projects and small contracts council members are tasked with approving or denying.
She is an advocate for restitution over the estimated $600 million overtaxation of city homeowners.
In 2021, she defeated MCalister, the incumbent at the time, taking 55% of the vote.
Roy McCalister Jr. said what separates him is his experience and dedication to finding solutions to the complex issues.
“I was there before, people know what I’m about and that’s why people are calling me to run again,” McCalister said earlier this year.
McCalister is a retired police officer who left the Detroit Police Department in 2006. Before joining city council in 2017, he was an investigator for the Federal Defenders Office of the Eastern District of Michigan.
He said he wants to continue his work addressing root causes of crime on city council.
“We have a lot of people that have mental health challenges since COVID, I used to have mental health seminars and workshops as council member, that is not happening now,” McCalister said.
Mcalister defeated the incumbent, Scott and former state Sen. Virgil Smith in 2017.
State Rep. Helena Scott, D-Detrot, said she ran because her constituents she shares with the city council district representing the area in the state House are asking for change.
“This seat was my first choice in 2017 before I ran for state House — this is my passion,” Scott said.
District 5: Race narrows to replace Sheffield’s District 5 seat
The race to replace outgoing council president Mary Sheffield’s seat representing District 5 will feature UAW retiree Renata Miller and board of police commissioner Willie Burton in the Nov. 4 general election.
Miller appears to have won the primary with more than 23% of the total votes, with Burton behind her at 19%, according to unofficial results updated shortly after midnight Wednesday morning. More than 11,200 votes were cast across District 5.
The primary race there came and went without clear frontrunners. Sheffield represented the district for more than a decade.
Miller was backed by the UAW and had the strongest door knocking game of any campaign. She’s been all over the district courting voters, she told Michigan Chronicle.
District 5 crosses both the east and west sides of the city. The district covers Belle Isle to Dexter-Linwood, spanning across West Village, Indian Village, downtown, Brush Park, Boston Edison, New Center and the North End. There’s new district boundaries as the result of a city charter mandated redistricting process last year.
Candidates included Burton, Miller, HUD employee Esther Haugabook, Ardent Park president Tatjana Jackson, developer George Adams, Michael Hartt and legislative aid Michael Ri’chard.
Haugabook received 17% of the vote, while Jackson, the was youngest candidate in the District 5 race, won 16% of the vote. In social media posts, Jackson pointed to lagging salaries and increasing rent as top issues.
But Burton’s campaign won thanks to name ID having appeared on the ballot before, and targeting individuals within grassroots organizing circles.
He has been a fierce opponent of surveillance technology as a police commissioner.
District 7: Democratic Socialist to face ‘independent’ state rep. for west side seat
Detroit City Council could add another Democratic Socialist to the nine-member body.
Unofficial results show Denzel McCampbell defeated local activist Bobbi Johnson and educator Regina Ross, who nearly defeated Durhal in 2021.
Unofficial results show McCampbell and Whitsett battling for the top spot around 33%, with Whitsett with a lead of a few dozen votes shortly after midnight. Ross received nearly 26% of the vote, around 2,200 votes.
McCampbell, a former aide to U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, could become Detroit’s second Democratic Socialist city council member. District 6 council member, Gabriela Santiago-Romero, who will face state Rep. Tyrone Carter in the general election, is a dues paying DSA member, she told Michigan Chronicle last month.
The Working Families Party says over 16,000 Facebook and Instagram users have seen McCampbell ads. Members knocked over 9,000 doors, the group said.
“Many of our members have had the benefit of seeing Denzel McCampbell over the years really be deeply engaged in the community,” Kandia Milton, president of the Black Slate said in an interview with Michigan Chronicle.
“With The Black Slate being a grassroots born political action group that dates back to the 1950s, a person in community in the way that Mr. McCampbell has been in community is really a throwback. He’s taken the modern day practices and applied it to grassroots organizing without abandoning the traditional organizing efforts. Since the 1950s, community outreach has been central to who we are.”
McCampbell told Michigan Chronicle his campaign centered neighborhoods and the well-being of every family.
“I’m proud that we achieved that goal and even more honored that neighbors across District 7 agreed with their votes to advance us to the general election,” McCampbell said. “Every resident deserves a city council member and city government who will show up day in and day out for them, and fight for their interests and needs. I look forward to continuing our momentum in the next 90 days. Thank you to my neighbors in District 7 for your belief in our campaign!”
Whitsett told Michigan Chronicle that of the conversations her staff had while phone banking, 61% said they are voting Whitsett.
Democratic groups have largely opposed her candidacy to city council. She blamed Democrats for not doing enough while holding control of all three branches of state government for two years.
She broke with her party on abortion, voting against key provisions in legislation to codify reproductive rights into state law, angering her Democratic colleagues. She went to the White House to champion alternative COVID-19 treatments. Criticized former President Joe Biden on Fox News and refused to show up to work with former House Speaker Joe Tate during last winter’s lame duck session.
Whitsett has said her decision making is motivated by her constituents, who she says have not been turned off by her independent streak.
“My records speaks for itself and who I put first,” Whitsett told Michigan Chronicle. “God and community.”
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