The Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce will host a Detroit mayoral debate during this year’s Mackinac Policy Conference – which is scheduled to take place May 27-30 at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island – conference officials announced Thursday.
There were no details about which of the nine candidates will be invited to attend the debate, but officials at the chamber said they would determine the lineup and invite select members from the deep field to participate.
“We’re considering a number of factors right now, and when we announce the actual plan, we’ll communicate what metric we used to decide who was invited to be on stage,” Chamber officials said when asked how they will determine participants for the debate.
The field of candidates is as dynamic as the city itself: two current city councilmembers, a former council president, a former police chief, two entrepreneurs, the pastor of Detroit’s largest church, a leading attorney, and a community advocate stepping into the political arena. Their presence affirms a simple truth: Detroit’s leadership must reflect the people who have fought, stayed, and built here generation after generation.
Candidates who have officially returned their petition to appear on the ballot are City Council President Mary Sheffield, City Councilman Fred Durhal III, former Detroit Police Chief James Craig, former Detroit City Council President Saunteel Jenkins, Triumph Church Pastor Rev. Solomon Kinloch Jr., entrepreneur Joel Haashiim, attorney Todd Perkins, entrepreneur Jonathan Barlow, and criminal justice advocate Dean Evans. These candidates are still awaiting certification from the city clerk’s office before it’s determined whether they will appear on August’s primary ballot.
Seven of the nine candidates participated in the first Detroit mayoral forum on April 26, days after the candidate filing deadline, at the Riverside Marina in Detroit. The forum was hosted by the African American Leadership Institute and the Black women-led voter canvassing group Supermajority. Michigan Chronicle Executive Editor Jeremy Allen moderated the forum, which more than 200 people attended in person and thousands of others have since viewed online.
As the campaign season heats up, so too will the forums and debates. There have since been two other mayor forums, neither of which were inclusive of all of the candidates. The debate on Mackinac Island will be one of the biggest stages for the candidates to showcase their vision for the city in front of some of the state’s most influential policymakers.
In the interest of the public, Michigan Chronicle’s editorial board recently sat down for one-on-one interviews with eight of the nine candidates. Those interviews will be available on MichiganChronicle.com this week.
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