Detroit City Council District 6 race: Veteran lawmaker faces popular incumbent to represent Southwest

The District 6 match up between Gabriela Santiago-Romero and State Rep. Tyrone Carter could be the most interesting of all the district races.

The new District 6 map. Screenshot: City of Detroit

The race for Detroit City Council’s newly drawn District 6 features an expected matchup between two formidable candidates who do not like each other.

The tension between incumbent Gabriela Santiago-Romero and state Rep. Tyrone Carter, D-Detroit, can be felt hearing their supporters talk about the other.

Carter and his allies have accused Santiago-Romero of not being accessible to residents in the district. Santiago-Romero’s supporters have told me Carter is running for city council as an opportunity to leave the Michigan House now that Democrats are in the minority.

Though Carter has supported progressive causes in the legislature, Santiago-Romero is three decades younger, and has the support of other progressive officials and candidates.

She’s earned support from state office holders like Sen. Stephanie Chang, D-Detroit, and local candidates like Denzel McCampbell, whose worked as an aide to U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, who also has a relationship with Santiago-Romero.

Carter, whose state House District covers a portion of Detroit, Ecorse and River Rouge, says his work is best served on city council instead of the state House.

“I’ve had people recruiting me to run now that we’re not in the majority saying, ‘Why don't you come down to the city and do what you've been doing in Lansing?’ From people who I didn’t even know knew who I was,” Carter told me in an interview earlier this year.

Carter’s supporters, like Scott Boswell, owner of Griot Music Lounge, believe Santiago-Romero doesn’t represent what they describe as “the real Southwest.”