Detroit City Council District 5 race: Here's who's running to replace Mary Sheffield
I spoke to several candidates planning their campaigns for Detroit City Council's District 5 seat. More than a dozen residents have expressed interest in running.
City Council President Mary Sheffield’s seat on the nine-member body is up for grabs and a number of residents are vying to represent the newly redrawn District 5.
The race is without clear frontrunners with about a month left until the candidate filing deadline.
The citywide elections in August and November includes offices for mayor, city clerk, city council, board of police commissioners and community advisory council.
Sheffield is leaving her seat for the city’s highest office, viewed as a top candidate for mayor.
District 5 crosses both the east and west sides of the city. The district covers Belle Isle to Dexter-Linwood, spanning across West Village, Indian Village, downtown, Brush Park, Boston Edison, New Center and the North End.
There’s new district boundaries as the result of a city charter mandated redistricting process last year. Council members selected what planners called, “Option 6,” which members mostly agreed created the least amount of change, while meeting the population distribution requirements based on census data.
The district is home to important landmarks, including the Renaissance Center, Eastern Market, Ford Field, Henry Ford Hospital, the DMC, the DIA and Charles H. Wright Museum and the Dequindre Cut. Wayne State will move from District 6 to District 5 as a result of the redistricting changes.
It’s also home to active community organizations like The Villages Community Development Corporation, Genesis HOPE and Vanguard Community Development.
Sheffield became the youngest council member in the city’s history when she was elected in 2014 at 26. She was selected council president by fellow council members in 2022 after winning a third term in District 5. The council president told me last month she’s spoken to several candidates who intend to run for her seat, adding that she will be following the race, but wouldn’t be endorsing a candidate.
So far, Whitney Clarke, Renata Miller, Chantel Watkins, Kevin Jones, Michael Clemmon, Ted Jones and Boratha Tan have filed campaign committees to run. More than a dozen people have pulled petitions to run for the seat, the city’s elections department reports.
I haven’t spoken to every council candidate yet, but intend to cover each competitive race in this year’s city elections. The filing deadline to run for city council is April 22.
Please reach out if you're a candidate for Detroit City Council. You can message me on social media or email, samueljrobinson@icloud.com. Check your inbox, I may have already attempted to reach out to you.
This post will be updated to include information about each candidate running for the District 5 seat.
I have spoken to the following District 5 candidates about their campaigns:
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