Denzel McCampbell
Denzel McCampbell is running for election to the Detroit City Council to represent District 7 in Michigan. He is on the ballot in the general election on November 4, 2025. He advanced from the primary on August 5, 2025.
McCampbell completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Denzel McCampbell was born in Detroit, Michigan. He earned a bachelor's degree from Michigan State University in 2013. His career experience includes working as the communications director for the Office of Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, a Detroit charter revision commissioner, a social justice and voting rights organizer, and a civic engagement project manager. As of June 2021, McCampbell's community involvement included being a founding member of BYP100 Detroit Chapter and a board member for the Mary Turner Center for Advocacy and the Sugar Law Center for Economic and Social Justice.[1]
Elections
2025
See also: City elections in Detroit, Michigan (2025)
General election
The candidate list in this election may not be complete.
General election for Detroit City Council District 7
Denzel McCampbell and Karen Whitsett are running in the general election for Detroit City Council District 7 on November 4, 2025.
Candidate | ||
 | Denzel McCampbell (Nonpartisan)  | |
 | Karen Whitsett (Nonpartisan) | |
| ||||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for Detroit City Council District 7
Denzel McCampbell and Karen Whitsett defeated Regina Ross, Bobbi Johnson, and Dustin Campbell in the primary for Detroit City Council District 7 on August 5, 2025.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Denzel McCampbell (Nonpartisan) | 34.2 | 3,403 |
| ✔ | | Karen Whitsett (Nonpartisan) | 33.6 | 3,344 |
 | Regina Ross (Nonpartisan) | 24.8 | 2,472 | |
| Bobbi Johnson (Nonpartisan) | 6.4 | 638 | ||
| Dustin Campbell (Nonpartisan) (Write-in) | 0.3 | 28 | ||
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.7 | 72 | ||
| Total votes: 9,957 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Clinton Topp (Nonpartisan)
- Jacqueline Dunlap (Nonpartisan)
Endorsements
McCampbell received the following endorsements. To view a full list of McCampbell's endorsements as published by their campaign, click here. To send us additional endorsements, click here.
2021
See also: City elections in Detroit, Michigan (2021)
General election
General election for Detroit City Clerk
Incumbent Janice Winfrey defeated Denzel McCampbell in the general election for Detroit City Clerk on November 2, 2021.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Janice Winfrey (Nonpartisan) | 71.2 | 64,364 |
| Denzel McCampbell (Nonpartisan) | 28.6 | 25,834 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.3 | 252 | ||
| Total votes: 90,450 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for Detroit City Clerk
The following candidates ran in the primary for Detroit City Clerk on August 3, 2021.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Janice Winfrey (Nonpartisan) | 70.4 | 48,118 |
| ✔ | | Denzel McCampbell (Nonpartisan) | 15.3 | 10,434 |
 | Beverly Kindle-Walker (Nonpartisan) | 10.2 | 6,953 | |
 | Michael Ri'chard (Nonpartisan) | 3.5 | 2,362 | |
 | Kinda Makini Anderson (Nonpartisan) (Write-in) | 0.4 | 265 | |
 | Articia Bomer (Nonpartisan) (Write-in) | 0.0 | 1 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.3 | 224 | ||
| Total votes: 68,357 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Jeffery Robinson (Nonpartisan)
2018
General election
General election for Detroit Charter Commission (9 seats)
The following candidates ran in the general election for Detroit Charter Commission on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Carol Weaver (Nonpartisan) | 8.3 | 64,681 | |
| ✔ |  | JoAnna Underwood (Nonpartisan) | 7.8 | 61,008 |
| ✔ |  | Quincy Jones (Nonpartisan) | 7.5 | 58,420 |
| ✔ | Nicole Small (Nonpartisan) | 7.3 | 57,150 | |
| ✔ | Tracy Peters (Nonpartisan) | 7.2 | 56,512 | |
| ✔ | Laura Hughes (Nonpartisan) | 7.2 | 56,300 | |
| ✔ | Richard Mack (Nonpartisan) | 6.9 | 54,119 | |
| ✔ | Barbara Anne Wynder (Nonpartisan) | 6.2 | 48,970 | |
| ✔ | Karissa Holmes (Nonpartisan) | 6.2 | 48,794 | |
| Denzel McCampbell (Nonpartisan) | 5.6 | 43,980 | |
| Byron Osbern (Nonpartisan) | 5.6 | 43,632 | ||
| Graham Davis (Nonpartisan) | 5.5 | 43,028 | ||
 | Taylor Harrell (Nonpartisan) | 5.0 | 39,106 | |
 | Michael Griffie (Nonpartisan) | 4.6 | 36,442 | |
| Emily Dabish (Nonpartisan) | 4.5 | 35,609 | ||
| Chase Cantrell (Nonpartisan) | 3.7 | 29,396 | ||
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.9 | 6,783 | ||
| Total votes: 783,930 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Campaign themes
2025
| Video submitted to Ballotpedia Released July 18, 2025 |
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Denzel McCampbell completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by McCampbell's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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As former Detroit Charter Revision Commissioner, I worked with stakeholders in the community and in government to help craft an inclusive proposed city charter that attempted to make the city of Detroit a more equitable and just city.
I believe that our government is a tool that should be used to protect people and lift up the livelihoods of its residents, especially those who are most marginalized. I believe that this should happen on every level of government. A person will most likely engage mostly on a day-to-day basis with their municipal government and I believe in the City of Detroit, we must work to ensure that we have a responsive city government, that uses its resources to ensure that every neighborhood is well-resourced and that every resident is able to have adequate housing, public transportation, and access to opportunities to improve their lives and have their basic needs met.
That’s why I’m running for Detroit City Council. I believe greatly in tI believe greatly in the power of organizing and bringing people together - this is a campaign about bringing every Detroiter to the table.- I will fight for truly affordable housing, increasing home ownership in District 7, advocating for the rights of residents, and pushing back against those who try to take advantage of homeowners and tenants. I will advocate for an equitable public transit system, so that residents can work, play, and learn without having to worry about how they are going to get around the city and the surrounding areas.
- Bringing more resources and services to the neighborhood. I truly believe that we must use the city’s leverage and resources to ensure we are addressing the needs of residents. Through making sure city services are on-time, robust, and responsive,entering economic development on a needs-based approach focusing on basis needs such as grocery stores, health clinics, affordable restaurants, community centers, and third places 3) Increasing opportunities and resources for seniors and youth by creating a central senior services office and bringing more career technical education and vocational training to the district.
- I will push for the right to clean air, land and clean, affordable drinking water to be a reality for every resident. These are human rights and too many in the city and the country as a whole are going without clean air, water and soil. The Detroit City Government must play a role in delivering these things to our neighbors.
My mom was born 25 miles outside of Selma, Alabama during the Jim Crow Era. She reminded me about her memories of seeings dogs and hoses turned on Black people, and of course Black people being harmed and killed for simply trying to vote.
I do not take a dime of corporate PAC money because I am accountable and beholden to the people.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
2021
Denzel McCampbell completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2021. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by McCampbell's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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Denzel has been involved with numerous social justice issues. As a founding member of the Detroit chapter of BYP100, Denzel has fought against police brutality, hyper-surveillance, criminalization of our communities, and mass incarceration. He’s committed to fighting for issues rooted in uplifting community and returning power to the people.
Currently serving as an elected Detroit City Charter Commissioner, Denzel has been a part of a crucial effort to revise the city’s constitution to answer to the needs of residents and to create equitable foundation for the structure for our city government for decades to come. Denzel also serves as communications director and advisor for Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (MI-13). He also serves as a board member for the Sugar Law Center for Economic and Social Justice and the Mary Turner Center for Advocacy.
Denzel is a homeowner near Rouge Park and enjoys spending time with his Yorkie named Minnie.
- We must increase access to the ballot. Voters deserve accurate and timely information about elections and ways they can ensure their voices are being heard. We need to continue expand accessibility and have robust public educations efforts to ensure voters know how to take advantage of these efforts. We need to ensure have a strong training program for election workers and that our polling locations are set up optimally to avoid long lines.
- Voter participation must increase in the city of Detroit. This cannot happen unless we increase civic education. I will create a Detroit Civic Education Corp. inside the city clerk's office to create teams of folks to go into the community to meet neighbors where they are and connect the dots between the issues important to them and how government should be working on their behalf. This is a way we can increase participation, by helping to build that civic engagement muscle.
- Transparency and accessibility are key to the record keeping duties that the Detroit City Clerk has. Right now, you cannot visit the city's website to see how your City Council person has voted, this should not be the case in 2021. As Detroit City Clerk, I will ensure that we are conveying a full host of accurate and up-to-date information about city council, boards, and commissions, to ensure residents have access to the information they need to hold government official accountable.
As Detroit City Clerk, I will continue to use my platform to push to get money out of politics, to bring more accountability to government and elected officials, and push back against the voting attacks we see in Lansing and across the country. I also think we should explore ranked choice voting in Detroit to give voters the ability to fully display their choices for elective offices.
They instilled in me the values of standing up and showing up for one another. My mom was born 25 miles away from Selma in the Jim Crow south. As a child, I remember her telling me about her childhood memories of seeing the fire hoses and dogs turned on Black folks because they were trying to vote. That's why I'm so passionate about voting rights today.
A hush puppy.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
See also
2025 Elections
External links
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Candidate Detroit City Council District 7 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on June 22, 2021
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