LeDuff's "circus" Detroit mayor's debate: Perkins most popular candidate among candidates

The most interesting question during a lively forum revealed attorney Todd Perkins is the mayoral candidate most other candidates said they would vote for if not for themselves.

Detroit mayoral candidates from left to right: Todd Perkins, Saunteel Jenkins, Danetta Simpson, Mary Sheffield. Photo: Samuel Robinson

Thursday night’s Detroit mayor’s candidate forum hosted by a conservative news website made clearer the tension — and friendliness— that exists between candidates.

For two hours, moderators and a room full of Detroit voters indulged in interruptions and outbursts that felt more like public comment at a city council than it did a candidate forum.

Candidates frequently paused to listen to the concerns and reactions to their answers blurted out by members of the audience and at times, the moderators themselves.

The event was live streamed on Twitter and Youtube.

Former Detroit News reporter James David Dickson, now a conservative commenter known for provocative takes, columnist Karen Dumas and journalist Charlie LeDuff promoted the event as a different kind of forum.

LeDuff at the beginning of the event threatened to cut candidates off if their responses consisted of “campaign speak” and platitudes.

Questions ranged from how candidates felt about making “Detroit great again,” making downtown more inviting to longtime Black Detroiters, and how the Riverfront Conservancy’s executive board let the organization’s former director steal millions for years.

“What the hell is the Riverfront Conservancy and who owns it?” LeDuff asked the panel.

LeDuff at one point described the event as “The people’s debate,” though corrected immediately afterward by one of his co-moderators that it was a forum. It may as well have been a debate. Each of the candidate’s microphones, save for brief technical issues, were live throughout the entire event. This resulted in direct responses in a way we haven’t seen at any of the other candidate forums.

The candidates were split up at random between two groups after they picked a slip of paper from a hat.

The first group consisted of former police chief James Craig, businessmen John Barlow and Joel Haashiim, and councilman Fred Durhal III. The second group of candidates were THAW CEO Saunteel Jenkins and council president Mary Sheffield, attorney Todd Perkins and Danetta Simpson.

A tense exchange between Jenkins and Sheffield was the highlight of the second group of candidates. The two have been publicly critical of one another since a video I obtained and published showed Sheffield criticizing Jenkins at a senior home that Jenkins says she wasn’t invited to.

On Thursday, Jenkins said that despite being neighbors with Sheffield, she hasn’t talked to the council president about how their community will be affected by MDOT’s proposed I-375 reconfiguration.

“We may not have talked about it because I don’t talk, I do,” Sheffield responded, which prompted a reaction from the crowd, and LeDuff.

The most interesting question Thursday night was who candidates would vote for if not themselves.

Sheffield, Jenkins and Durhal said they would vote for Perkins. Perkins said he would vote for Jenkins. Barlow said Durhal. Craig said Haashiim.

“I’m appreciative,” Perkins told me in a text message Friday. “I believe it’s an affirmation of my character, experience and zealous advocacy.”