Mary Sheffield makes history as Detroit’s first woman mayor

Mayor-elect Mary Sheffield said she feels the weight of history and the responsibility placed on her by voters to lead Detroit into the future after posting a landslide victory.

Detroit voters on Tuesday overwhelmingly chose Sheffield to become the city’s first woman mayor and lead the city starting in 2026. The Associated Press declared Sheffield the winner at 9:15 p.m., just over an hour after polls closed. Unofficial results showed Sheffield held 77% of the vote over her opponent, Rev. Solomon Kinloch Jr.

“Generations ago, it was right here in Detroit where our grandmothers and grandfathers came to build lives of dignity and pride to find good paying jobs, buy homes, raise families and imagine a better tomorrow,” Sheffield said during a victory speech at the MotorCity Casino Hotel. “They saw Detroit as a destination city, a world-class city. That has always been the promise and the hope of this city, and we will continue to march boldly toward that promise once again.”

The election marks the first change in the city’s top leadership since three-term Mayor Mike Duggan was first elected in 2014. Sheffield, 38, cast herself as a “people’s champion” and heir to Duggan as she seeks a promotion after serving on the City Council for the last decade. Kinloch, 52, pitched himself as a political outsider and “builder” inspired to seek government office to address the deep needs of residents who are failed by current leaders.

“I don’t take for granted that I stand on the shoulders of so many warrior women who have prayed, who have sacrificed just for us to be here in this moment, a torch carried from one generation to the next,” Sheffield said. “I say to every little girl watching tonight and to every child in this city, ‘never doubt yourself. You are gifted, you are powerful. You are fearfully and wonderfully made. No mountain is too high for you to climb. No dream is too big for you to realize if you believe and truly believe all things are possible.’”

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Sheffield is the daughter of pastor and activist Horace Sheffield III and granddaughter of civil rights legend Horace Sheffield Jr. Sheffield’s mother was an educator and nurse, while her grandmother was an activist.

Her grandmother, Mary Coty, once described a young Sheffield as headstrong and determined. The 88-year-old accompanied Sheffield to the polls on Tuesday and celebrated with her on stage. Sheffield thanked her family for instilling faith and strength in her, including her late mother “who watches over me and guides my steps daily.”

“It all started with the belief that my parents had in me,” Sheffield said. “They reminded me again and again that no mountain was too high for their daughter to climb, no dream was too big.”

Guests at Sheffield’s campaign party included Detroit Police Chief Todd Bettison, City Council Member Fred Durhal III, state Sens. Mallory McMorrow and Stephanie Chang, as well as Michigan Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist, Michigan Democratic Party Chair Curtis Hertel and various Wayne County officials and community leaders.

“With her win, thousands of children in Detroit can now see themselves reflected in the city’s leadership in a way they never might have imagined before,” Hertel said in a Tuesday evening statement. “Mary Sheffield is a fighter, and I know she will stand up for working families and their children every single day as mayor; the city is lucky to have her.”

The next mayor’s term starts in the new year. For now, Sheffield will continue leading the last few City Council formal sessions before its business concludes at the end of November. Sheffield said assembling a transition team would be her first priority. She plans to convene a team representing various issues — including gun violence, infrastructure, housing and transit — to craft a plan for the first 200 days of her administration.

“Tomorrow we know we go to work shoulder-to-shoulder with our City Council, with our regional partners, with our civic and business community, with our labor family, and most importantly, with each and every one of you all,” Sheffield told the election night crowd. “The work now begins; the work of rebuilding our neighborhoods, creating great jobs, lifting every Detroiter out of poverty, attracting and retaining our young people in this city and reclaiming Detroit as its rightful place among the world’s greatest cities.

“We made history together, we will build a brighter future together. We will rise higher.”

A decade of experience

Sheffield became the youngest council member in Detroit’s history in 2013 and served three consecutive terms. She was the first candidate to publicly launch her campaign and a clear frontrunner from the start. The primary field widened to nine candidates, most of whom candidly assumed Sheffield would advance to the November election.

A decade of experience on the City Council gave her credibility in public forums and a debate spectated by business leaders. She consolidated labor support with union relationships cultivated across her career. Sheffield earned more than half the primary vote and finished 34 points ahead of Kinloch.

Kinloch, in his Tuesday night concession speech, pointed to the low voter turnout, noting “the majority of the people in the city are still not engaged. They still don’t believe that politics and politicians can really make a difference in their lives.”

He went on to tell his supporters that “Solomon Kinloch and the Kinloch family ain’t going nowhere.”

“For 27 years, I have fought for you as the senior pastor of Triumph Church. I want you to know that fire just got reignited because for the rest of my days, I’m going to keep on fighting for the citizens of Detroit,” he said.

Some residents have lamented that Kinloch’s consistent avoidance of candidate forums and his residency became a campaign issue; he lived in an Oakland County home purchased from Triumph Church before running for mayor. He also navigated concerns about doing the job while remaining a pastor.

Sheffield also faced concerns about her compliance with ethics rules and associations with corporate donors. Kinloch argued she would enter the mayor’s office under a “cloud” of suspicion after voters learned she solicited concert tickets from Comerica Bank and once dated a demolition contractor who secured millions of dollars from in city contracts. Sheffield says she remained within the bounds of Detroit’s ethics rules in both cases.