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Mary Sheffield delivers victory speech.
Declaring "Detoit, we did it," City Council President Mary Sheffield delivered a victory speech Tuesday night, a little more than hour after the Associated Press declared her the victor for mayor over Rev. Solomon Kinloch Jr.
She becomes the first woman mayor of Detroit.
At 10:30 p.m., with 99.8 percent of the vote counted, Sheffield was leading Kinloch 77 percent to 23 percent. The vote count was 78,148 to 23,087.
Making her entrance at the victory party at the MGM Grant Detroit to the Temptations' song, "Get Ready," she gave hugs and kisses to those surrounding her including her father, Rev. Horace Sheffield III.
"We built a movement, a movement that has proven that we are stronger when we all stand together as one Detroit," she said. "I've seen it on the east side the west side and every block in between, neighbors that are organizing block by block, our small businesses that are lifting up our communities and our young people who are demanding a future that they can believe in.
"This is the spirit of our city, the spirit that carried us here to this moment in Detroit. Let's not forget who we are. We are a city of innovators of champions of change makers. We put the world on wheels, we created the Motown sound...the nation's first public highway. We powered the arsenal of democracy.From these Detroit streets came freedom from the Underground Railroad to the fight for civil rights. This is the home of the labor movement, the birthplace of America's middle class."
Few doubted the ultimate outcome, with Sheffield garnering 51 percent of the vote in the August primary compared to Kinloch's 17 percent.
Then shortly before the election, a poll showed her with a commanding 50 percentage point lead over Kinloch. She also outpaced him in fundraising by a wide margin.
Kinloch, after his defeat, said people "cannot afford at this crossroad to sit on the sideline. This city's in trouble and we need you to stand up and step up more now than you ever before."
"I got in this race because they weren't talking about affordable housing. I got in this race because...they were celebrating crime, they were saying that crime is going down but the people in this city still don't feel safe. I got in this race because the majority of the people in this city still wrestle with keeping a roof over their head and our seniors still need a peace of mind (to) live with integrity and dignity. And that's a fight that does not end (with) the election.
"So all this says tonight is that we still got a lot of work to do. I want to make clear tonight that Solomon Kinloch and the Kinloch family ain't going nowhere."
Some voters interviewed by Deadline Detroit on Tuesday said they favored Sheffield, noting that she had more experience governing. Some also cited the WXYZ debate, saying Kinloch seemed “wishy-washy” on the issue of the president deploying the National Guard to Detroit, while Sheffield was adamantly against it. Kinloch later clarified that he was totally against it as well.
Others, referring to Kinloch, said they opposed the mix of politics and religion.
Conversely, some said they voted for Kinloch, explaining that he has helped the city through his church and deserves a chance to govern.
Sheffield wil replace Mayor Mike Duggan, who opted not to run for a fourth term. Instead, he's running as an Independent for governor in the 2026 race. Duggan had endorsed Sheffield.
