Mayoral election in Detroit, Michigan (2017)
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| 2017 Detroit mayoral elections |
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| Election dates |
| Filing deadline: April 25, 2017 |
| Primary election: August 8, 2017 General election: November 7, 2017 |
| Election stats |
| Offices up: Mayor, city council, city clerk, & police commissioners |
| Total seats up: 18 (click here for other city elections) |
| Election type: Nonpartisan |
| Other municipal elections |
| U.S. municipal elections, 2017 |
The city of Detroit, Michigan, held an election for the mayor's office in 2017. Mayor Mike Duggan was elected to a second four-year term, defeating Michigan State Senator Coleman Young II with 72 percent of the vote.
Young's father, Coleman Young, was mayor of Detroit from 1974 to 1994. He was the first black mayor of the city. Mayor Duggan and Senator Young advanced from the primary election in August, defeating six other candidates. Duggan received about 68 percent of the vote, while Young took in about 27 percent.
Detroit also held elections for all nine city council seats and the city clerk; click here for more information about those races. A primary election took place on August 8, 2017, and the general election occurred on November 7, 2017.The filing deadline for candidates who wished to run in this election was April 25, 2017.[1]
Elections
General election
Candidates
☑ Mayor Mike Duggan (i)
☐State Senator Coleman Young II
Results
| Mayor of Detroit, General Election, 2017 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Mike Duggan Incumbent |
71.64% | 72,439 |
| Coleman Young II | 27.84% | 28,149 |
| Write-in votes | 0.53% | 532 |
| Total Votes | 101,120 | |
| Source: Wayne County, Michigan, "2017 November 7th General & Special General Election Official Results," November 7, 2017 | ||
Polling
| 2017 Detroit Mayoral Election | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Poll | Mike Duggan | Coleman Young II | Undecided | Margin of error | Sample size | ||||||||||||||
| Target Insyght & MIRS News (October 25-26, 2017) | 63% | 28% | 9% | +/-5 | 400 | ||||||||||||||
| Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org. | |||||||||||||||||||
Primary election
Candidates
☑ Mayor Mike Duggan (i)
☐ Articia Bomer
☐ Angelo Brown
☐ Edward Dean
☐ Curtis Greene
☐ Donna Pitts
☐ Danetta Simpson
☑ State Senator Coleman Young II
Results
| Mayor of Detroit, Primary Election, 2017 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Mike Duggan Incumbent |
67.72% | 43,519 |
| Coleman Young II |
26.72% | 17,170 |
| Donna Pitts | 0.82% | 528 |
| Edward Dean | 0.67% | 433 |
| Danetta Simpson | 0.66% | 422 |
| Curtis Greene | 0.48% | 307 |
| Angelo Brown | 0.35% | 228 |
| Articia Bomer | 0.31% | 201 |
| Write-in votes | 2.27% | 1,459 |
| Total Votes | 64,267 | |
| Source: Wayne County Clerk, "2017 Primary Official Results," accessed August 23, 2017 | ||
Polling
| 2017 Detroit Mayoral Election | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Poll | Mike Duggan | Coleman Young II | Edward Dean | Donna Pitts | Danetta Simpson | Undecided | Margin of error | Sample size | |||||||||||
| Target Insyght (July 25-27, 2017) | 64% | 30% | 1% | 1% | 0% | 4% | +/-5 | 412 | |||||||||||
| Target Insyght (May 17-18, 2017) | 55% | 23% | 2% | 0% | 1% | 19% | +/-5 | 400 | |||||||||||
| AVERAGES | 59.5% | 26.5% | 1.5% | 0.5% | 0.5% | 11.5% | +/-5 | 406 | |||||||||||
| Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org. | |||||||||||||||||||
Campaign finance
Past elections
2013
In 2013, the mayor's office was up for election. The general and primary results are below. For more information about the election, click here.
General election results
| 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 | ||||
Primary election results
| Mayor of Detroit, 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: City of Detroit, "Mayor, City of Detroit Election Certification", accessed October 14, 2013 | ||||
Additional elections on the ballot
- See also: Michigan elections, 2017
The general election for mayor of Detroit shared the ballot with the elections for the Detroit City Council and city clerk and a special election to fill a vacancy in the Michigan House of Representatives.
Issues
Endorsements
Mike Duggan received the following endorsements prior to the primary election:
- Former Vice President Joe Biden (D) — Biden recorded a robo call urging voters to vote for Duggan. The call went out the night before the primary election.[2]
- Metro Detroit AFL-CIO[3]
- Detroit Free Press[4]
- The Detroit News[5]
- The Michigan Chronicle[6]
- The Black Slate[7]
- Wayne County Democratic Black Caucus[8]
- Public safety unions (Detroit Fire Fighters Association, Detroit Police Officers Association, Detroit Police Command Officers Association, and the Detroit Police Lieutenants and Sergeants Association)[9]
Coleman Young II received the following endorsements prior to the primary election:
- Detroit Democratic Club[10]
Focus on Detroit neighborhoods
During the 2010s, development in Detroit increased, especially in the downtown area. Downtown Development Authority CEO Eric Larson told The Detroit News in January 2016, "For probably the last five years, you see, really almost a doubling of activity every year."[11] Below is a quote from a February 2017 article by the Detroit Free Press to summarize the increase in downtown development.
| “ | Downtown and Midtown Detroit are on the rise. There’s no question about that. Thanks to sustained investment by community development groups, bolstered by foundations – and in the last decade by loan magnate Dan Gilbert, who has been buying up downtown skyscrapers like a live-action Monopoly game – those parts of town are full of new buildings, new businesses and new residents.[12] | ” |
| —Detroit Free Press, February 2017[13] | ||
Both Mayor Mike Duggan and his challengers focused their 2017 campaigns away from downtown and on Detroit's other neighborhoods. In the State of the City address in February 2017, Duggan said, "We’ve improved the basic services but if we’re going to fulfill a vision of building a Detroit that includes everybody then we’ve got to do a whole lot more." He spoke of the Neighborhood Strategic Fund, which was created to invest philanthropic funds in neighborhood development projects.[14]
State senator Coleman Young II announced his candidacy for mayor a few days after the State of the City address, criticizing Duggan for neglecting the neighborhoods in favor of downtown. "I think it's kind of funny he waits for four years and now starts talking about the neighborhoods," he said.[15] Young released a television ad in May 2017 comparing recent developments in the downtown area with images of vacant and rundown buildings in other parts of the city. A voice in the ad says, "There's this Detroit, and then there's this Detroit. What about our neighborhoods? What about our schools? Have we been forgotten?"[16]
Campaign advertisements
Below is a television ad created by Young's campaign. It began airing on May 16, 2017.[16]
Below is a television ad supporting Mayor Duggan called "Heartbeat." It was paid for by the Turnaround Detroit PAC and began airing on October 3, 2017.[17]
About the city
- See also: Detroit, Michigan
Detroit is a city in Wayne County, Michigan. As of 2010, its population was 713,777.
City government
- See also: Mayor-council government
The city of Detroit uses a strong mayor and city council system. In this form of municipal government, the city council serves as the city's primary legislative body and the mayor serves as the city's chief executive.[18]
Demographics
The following table displays demographic data provided by the United States Census Bureau.
| Demographic Data for Detroit, Michigan | ||
|---|---|---|
| Detroit | Michigan | |
| Population | 713,777 | 9,883,640 |
| Land area (sq mi) | 138 | 56,607 |
| Race and ethnicity** | ||
| White | 14.7% | 78.4% |
| Black/African American | 78.3% | 13.8% |
| Asian | 1.7% | 3.1% |
| Native American | 0.4% | 0.5% |
| Pacific Islander | 0% | 0% |
| Other (single race) | 3.1% | 1.2% |
| Multiple | 1.8% | 2.9% |
| Hispanic/Latino | 7.7% | 5.1% |
| Education | ||
| High school graduation rate | 81% | 90.8% |
| College graduation rate | 15.3% | 29.1% |
| Income | ||
| Median household income | $30,894 | $57,144 |
| Persons below poverty level | 35% | 14.4% |
| Source: population provided by U.S. Census Bureau, "Decennial Census" (2010). Other figures provided by U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2014-2019). | ||
| **Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here. | ||
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Detroit mayoral election. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
| Detroit, Michigan | Michigan | Municipal government | Other local coverage |
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External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Detroit Free Press, "Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan announces re-election bid," February 4, 2017
- ↑ The Hill, "Biden records robo call for Detroit mayor," August 7, 2017
- ↑ Metro Detroit AFL-CIO, "2017 Political Endorsements," accessed August 8, 2017
- ↑ Detroit Free Press, "Endorsement: Duggan has earned another shot at mayor," July 29, 2017
- ↑ The Detroit News, "Our Endorsement: Pick Duggan in mayoral primary," July 19, 2017
- ↑ The Michigan Chronicle, "The Michigan Chronicle endorsements," accessed August 8, 2017
- ↑ CBS Detroit, "Detroit’s Black Slate Endorses First White Candidate In Organization History," August 2, 2017
- ↑ New York Times, "Detroit’s Mayoral Election Is a Test of Recovery and Legacy," August 6, 2017
- ↑ CBS Detroit, "Public Safety Unions Endorse Duggan For Mayor; Audio Excerpt," accessed August 8, 2017
- ↑ Detroit Democratic Club, "2017 Candidate Endorsements," accessed August 8, 2017
- ↑ The Detroit News, "It’s boom time for developments in heart of Detroit," January 8, 2016
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Detroit Free Press, "Duggan's priorities for Detroit are right, but challenges remain," February 21, 2017
- ↑ The Detroit News, "Jobs, neighborhoods, housing take focus in Duggan's speech," February 21, 2017
- ↑ Detroit Free Press, "Coleman Young II announces mayoral run: 'We need change,'" February 24, 2017
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 Detroit Free Press, "Coleman Young II: Time to focus on 'forgotten' Detroit neighborhoods," May 15, 2017
- ↑ Detroit Free Press, "TV commercial backing Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan's re-election bid to air Tuesday," October 2, 2017
- ↑ Detroit City Charter, Sec. 5.101-107 and 4.101-122, accessed August 27, 2014 (dead link)
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