Detroit mayoral candidates spar in first debate at Mackinac Policy Conference
Jenkins and Sheffield continued to appear at odds, while Durhal and Kinloch argued over experience.
Candidates attempted to separate themselves during the first and only proper debate scheduled between five of nine Detroit mayoral candidates last week on Mackinac Island.
While previous candidate forums have let voters in on the rhetoric deployed by each candidate leading up to the Aug. 5 primary, the debate Thursday at the Detroit Regional Chamber’s annual policy conference was the first chance to hear them openly challenge and disagree with each other.
Most of the hostility from other candidates was directed at Detroit City Council president Mary Sheffield and Triumph Church pastor Rev. Solomon Kinloch.
Detroit Regional Chamber CEO Sandy Baruah said before candidates appeared on stage that the chamber was planning to do the debate in Detroit but there was so much interest that they found a way.
Attorney and mayoral candidate Todd Perkins, who paid his own way onto the island to watch the debate from the audience told reporters after the debate he still hadn’t heard from Detroit Regional Chamber leaders as to why he was left out of the debate.
The debate was held on the Grand Hotel lawn in a tent Buruah called the “civility tent,” as the annual conference’s theme this year promoted debate moderators Stephen Henderson and Nolan Finley’s new book.
Meet the candidates
Former police Chief James Craig asks voters to judge him on the eight years he spent as police chief, saying he would continue to focus on neighborhood policing to lower the city’s homicide rate. As a Republican, he says he would leverage his relationship with the White Hosue to bring additional federal dollars to the city.
Council member Fred Durhal III leans on his experience as a legislator in Lansing and as the chair of the city’s budget and finance committee. Durhal says the city’s next mayor will need relationships with lawmakers in the state legislature to bring meaningful policy changes to take the city to the next level, like policy tax reform.
Nonprofit CEO Saunteel Jenkins said the city needs a mayor who will be ready on day one. She believes what sets her a part is that she has executive and legislative experience. As the CEO of The Heat and Warmth Fund (THAW) and the former city council president, Jenkins says she would bring all stakeholders together as mayor to continue the city’s growth.
Pastor Rev. Solomon Kinloch Jr. believes the city’s growth has been unequal and that career politicians have abandoned the needs of the most vulnerable. He invokes Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. when asked how he would juggle his preaching duties as mayor: “We got to operate with fierce urgency and stop waiting on other people to do it and stand up and do it ourselves — if they could’ve done it, they would’ve done it.”
City Council president Mary Sheffield says the city needs to foster a more business friendly environment to ensure its continued economic growth. She believes in a holistic approach to government where the city works not just for business, but for people: “Both can coexist at the same time.”
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