Detroit, Michigan mayoral election, 2013

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2013 Detroit mayoral election
Election dates
Primary election: August 6, 2013 General election: November 5, 2013
Election stats
Offices up: Mayor, city council
Total seats up: 10 (click here for other city elections)
Election type: Nonpartisan

On November 5, 2013, Mike Duggan (D) won the Detroit mayoral election, defeating opponent Benny Napoleon (D).

See also: Detroit, Michigan city council elections, 2013

General election

The following are the results of the 2013 Detroit mayoral election.

Mayor of Detroit, Michigan, 2013
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Nonpartisan	Mike Duggan	54.9%	74,254
	Nonpartisan	Benny Napoleon	44.7%	60,448
	Nonpartisan	Write-in	0.3%	455
Total Votes				135,157
Source: City of Detroit Department of Elections

October 22 debate

On October 22, 2013, Duggan and Napoleon participated in their first televised debate. Duggan framed his background as one of turning around troubled institutions, while Napoleon focused on his record of service in law enforcement and emphasized his lifelong residency in Detroit, contrasting it with Duggan's move from the suburb of Livonia in 2012.

Emergency Manager

Though they both opposed the presence of Governor Rick Snyder's appointed emergency manager, Kevyn Orr, Duggan and Napoleon differed in how they proposed to interact with him. Duggan stated that he believed that if he were elected, Governor Snyder would be likely to shorten Orr's tenure, in light of Duggan's record of turnarounds and connections with the business community. Napoleon spoke against Orr's presence and stated that he believed that Governor Snyder was illegally interfering with Detroit's affairs and taking away Detroiters right to self-governance.

In response to a question that framed the emergency manager law as undermining democratic control in Detroit, Napoleon stated that the emergency manager law was "the most offensive assault on democracy that has ever occurred ... since the American Revolution." Napoleon went on to say that he would "stand up for citizens in the community" and do everything possible to remove Orr. Duggan described the situation as "troubling," saying he did not believe that anything had improved in Detroit since Orr's arrival. He went on to say that he would hope to be able to run the day-to-day operations of the city with an administrative team of his choosing and engage with Orr. Napoleon responded by saying he had "no plans to work with Kevyn Orr." Duggan responded that he would be active in managing the city and not "sit around waiting for [Orr] to go away."

Economy and jobs

Benny Napoleon discussed a $3.5 billion economic recovery plan, which would include adding "economic anchors" to each neighborhood along with public safety posts to enable people to work and be safe in their communities, reducing stresses on transit systems. His plan would reduce focus on increasing commerce in downtown Detroit. Mike Duggan criticized Napoleon's plan as unrealistic, saying instead that the focus should be on attracting and encouraging entrepreneurs. In order to lower the start-up costs of a new business, Duggan proposed taking abandoned storefronts and selling them for a dollar, streamlining the permitting processes to make the legal processes easier, and seeking money from charitable foundations to establish a startup fund to help new businesses. After Napoleon said that Duggan had given up on Detroit communities, Duggan responded by saying that his plan was more realistic and economically sound, and that the conversation should focus on concrete past successes, not just plans.

Crime prevention and neighborhood revitalization

Mike Duggan referred to his "Every Neighborhood has a Future" plan, saying that he would take abandoned homes and put families in them. The plan he referenced states that incentives would be provided to bring families back into the city to halt depopulation. As far as crime, he cited administrative tasks such as payroll and dispatch that were being completed by officers who could be on the streets of the community, helping to reduce the police response time.

Napoleon referred to a 30% crime reduction that occurred while he was Chief of Police in the Detroit Police Department (1995-2001), saying that the population wouldn't return until neighborhoods were "livable, walkable, and sustainable." He went on to promise a 50% crime reduction during his first term as mayor by enhancing the plan instituted during his tenure as Chief of Police. Duggan mentioned that Napoleon had been serving as Wayne County Sheriff since 2009, and alleged that none of his initiatives as sheriff were effective. He also disputed Napoleon's claim of a 30% reduction in crime, saying he could not figure out between which years it occurred. Napoleon stated that it was based on FBI statistics, but did not elaborate. According to FBI Unified Crime Reports, total reported crime fell steadily from 6,143.4 per 100,000 in 1995 to 4,590.0 per 100,000 in 2001, a 25.3% reduction.

Duggan focused on his tenure as a prosecutor and cited partnerships with the US Attorney, ATF, DEA, and state and local law enforcement to ensure appropriate enforcement of and punishment for gun crimes, citing a 30-year low homicide rate in the last year of his tenure as prosecutor. He also discussed the need for coordination between police, the district attorneys, and parole officers to ensure that crimes are reported and punished accordingly. Duggan also proposed partnerships with religious communities to provide mentoring and soft-skills counseling in conflict resolution. Napoleon stated that he would assign an individual officer to be responsible for quality-of-life issues in each square mile of the city, employing community-based policing tactics. Duggan argued that such a tactic would prevent officers from responding to emergency calls.

Primary election

The August 6 primary determined which candidates would appear on the November 5, 2013 primary ballot. Mike Duggan and Benny Napoleon qualified to move on to the general election for Mayor of Detroit.

Detroit, Michigan Mayoral Primary Election, 2013
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Nonpartisan	Mike Duggan	51.7%	48,716
	Nonpartisan	Benny Napoleon	30.1%	28,391
	Nonpartisan	Krystal A. Crittendon	5.6%	5,311
	Nonpartisan	Lisa L. Howze	4.9%	4,591
	Nonpartisan	Tom Barrow	3.9%	3,699
	Nonpartisan	All other candidates	3.7%	3,531
Total Votes				94,239
Source: "Mayor, City of Detroit Election Certification" August 6, 2013, accessed October 14, 2013

About Detroit

As of the 2012 U.S. Census estimate, Detroit is the 18th largest city with a population of 701,475. The city operates under a mayor-council form of government. The mayor's salary is set at $158,559, while members of the city council earn approximately $73,000.

One historical trend in Detroit's is depopulation. In 2012, Detroit's population estimated was estimated at 701,475 by the U.S. Census Bureau. At its peak in 1950, the city population was 1,849,568. This 62.1% fall in population over 60 years resulted in neighborhoods with a significant number of abandoned buildings. One-fifth of Detroit's homes, approximately 78,000 homes, were vacant in 2013.

As of July 2013, Detroit had a 16% unemployment rate, while the state of Michigan had an unemployment rate of 8.8% and the national unemployment rate was 7.4%.

A measure on the 2009 general election ballot proposed to change the city council from a nine-member at-large legislative body to a council with seven members elected by district and two additional members elected at large, beginning in 2013. The measure was approved, with support of 73.35% of voters.

The mayor and city council were removed of most of their power when Governor Rick Snyder appointed Kevyn Orr as the city's Emergency Manager in March 2013. Orr removed Council President Charles Pugh from his position in June 2013 after Pugh stopped showing up to council meetings. Two other City Council members, Kwame Kenyatta, and Gary Brown, resigned in June, reducing the number of sitting members on the City Council to six. Orr directed the Council to leave the vacant seats empty until the fall 2013 election, as long as the smaller city council meetings could still make quorum, the minimum attendance requirement in order to hold a meeting.

As of the 2010 Census, Detroit was 82.7% African American, the largest percentage of any city with a population over 100,000. Duggan's election would have made him the first white mayor elected in Detroit in over 40 years, since the 1970-1974 tenure of Roman Gribbs.

See also

• Detroit city council elections, 2013