DETROIT – Mary Sheffield made history in Michigan on Tuesday night, Nov. 4, becoming the first woman ever elected mayor in Detroit and concluding a campaign cycle she led from start to finish.
The Associated Press and CNN called the race for Sheffield, the current city council president who defeated Triumph Church Pastor Solomon Kinloch, Jr. with 77% of the vote to Kinloch’s 23% with 429 of 430 precincts reporting early Wednesday morning.
Sheffield, 38, celebrated Tuesday night with hundreds of friends, family and supporters at a glitzy event at MGM Grand Detroit. Kinloch’s team watched the results from the Garden Theater.
“I am told it was the largest margin (of victory) in the history of the city of Detroit,” Sheffield said to a group of reporters before taking the stage at her election party. “I feel like today was a mandate by our city,” she said, going on to add, “Everyone is going to have a seat at the table with this administration”
Later, from the stage at the MGM Detroit ballroom, she told the packed crowd: “Tonight our city adds another chapter to its great history. Throughout Detroit’s 324-year history, 75 mayors have led this city. Not one has been a woman. But tonight, Detroit, we know that changes. And you changed it Detroit!”
The crowd erupted in applause and chants of “Mary.”
The 12-year city council veteran began her bid for mayor approximately two years ago, forming the first mayoral committee in the race to succeed Mayor Mike Duggan, who opted to run for Michigan governor in 2026 as an independent rather than seek a fourth term.
Sheffield cruised to victory in the nine-way August primary, collecting 51% of the vote to Kinloch’s 17%. She eventually received endorsements from Duggan and the Detroit Regional Chamber, and raised nearly $3 million to Kinloch’s approximately $800,000.
Despite being the business community’s favored candidate, Sheffield has developed a reputation as a fighter for the city’s poor and working class during her time on council, with an achievements list that includes key ordinances to improve housing stability and working conditions for those employed by city contractors or certain industries.
After thanking staff, supporters, and family gathered behind her on stage — including her father, Rev. Horace Sheffield III — Sheffield said she would carry on the legacy of her grandfather, who was beloved locally for his role in the labor and civil rights movements.
“Nearly 60 years ago, my grandfather, Horace Sheffield Jr., stood on the front lines during the Walk to Freedom demanding jobs, dignity, and justice for every Detroiter,” she said, referencing a landmark civil rights march in the city. “Now almost six decades later, his granddaughter stands right here, ready, equipped and prepared to continue that fight for all Detroiters.”
Sheffield went on to add: “I’ve heard you loud and clear Detroit, throughout this campaign, ‘Don’t forget about the neighborhoods,’ and I tell you we won’t. Together, we will invest in every corner of our city.”
Kinloch accepted defeat around 9 p.m. from the stage at the Garden Theatre, where he stood with his wife, Robin Kinloch, and son.
“To the city of Detroit, I love you and ain’t nothing you can do about it,” Kinloch said. “Despite all the poli-tricks and politics, if this campaign don’t do nothing else, I want it to accomplish at least one thing — to make sure that you understand that you cannot afford, at this crossroad, to sit on the sideline. This city is in trouble and we need you to stand up and step up more than ever before.”
Kinloch had not called Sheffield to concede by the time she spoke to reporters at her event, she said.
The mostly low-key campaigns heated up in mid-October when the rivalry turned fiery, with the two candidates trading barbs over who was more qualified to lead the city during their first televised debate, at WXYZ-TV (Channel 7). In the final week before the election, with Sheffield dogged by questions over a prior romantic relationship with a city contractor confirmed by her office, Kinloch warned voters from the pulpit of his church that his opponent would represent another stain on a city that “just came from that dark cloud and history of corruption,” adding, “if y’all let that woman become the next mayor, she goin’ in under federal investigation.”
Sheffield, in turn, called Kinloch “desperate.”
Sheffield’s office confirmed the councilmember had a relationship with contractor and Gayanga CEO Brian McKinney in 2019, in response to a Michigan Enjoyer article published Oct. 29. That year, Sheffield voted to approve $4.4 million in demolition contracts for McKinney’s company, according to a Free Press analysis of City Council records.
Sheffield’s office said she sought guidance about whether to disclose the relationship from the city’s ethics department. In a redacted opinion responding to an April 2019 inquiry, the department said disclosure was not required, as the city’s ethics ordinance only covers relationships that are financial, familial, spousal or domestic partnerships.
McKinney’s company was recently suspended from the city’s demolition program for allegedly filling sites with contaminated dirt obtained from the redevelopment of Northland Mall.
Kinloch also faced reputational challenges in his mayoral bid. Shortly before the August primary, reports emerged that he had pleaded guilty to assault in 1993 after allegedly beating his then-wife in the head with the handle of a butcher knife and then throwing it at her. Kinloch acknowledged the incident and said he had grown and learned from it, using it in his ministry to help counsel others in similar situations.
Mayor-elect Sheffield will enter City Hall at a time of projected fiscal upheaval, as nearly $1 billion of pandemic relief funds dry up and President Donald Trump threatens cuts to social service programs the city relies on to aid residents.
“This machinery is about to get broken by the federal government,” Rip Rapson, CEO of the Kresge Foundation, a major donor to Detroit initiatives, warned in an article in the Detroit Free Press, a USA TODAY Network partner, on the fiscal headwinds facing the next mayor. “The federal government is about to leave the building completely. And I think we don’t fully understand just how complex and challenging that’s going to be.”
Sheffield has said she is not blind to the challenges ahead and expects to build an efficient leadership team and hire a Chief Growth Officer to identify ways to diversify city revenues. She has said she still hopes to cut property taxes for residents, build 44,000 new affordable housing units, improve city services and give residents better access to city hall.
She and Kinloch had both vowed to tackle poverty and crime, but their approaches and the scale of their plans differed. Kinloch said he would build 10,000 new affordable housing units, for example. He also said he would tackle crime by allowing residents to police their own communities and lean more heavily on federal law enforcement. During the televised debate, he suggested a “fudging of the numbers” that show Detroit crime at a historic low and appeared to say he would welcome the National Guard to the city, before later saying his comment was misconstrued.
Sheffield’s public safety plan includes continuing to fight for additional funding for Community Violence Intervention programs, which are credited in part for the city’s decline in crime, and the creation of a gun violence prevention office.
Violet Ikonomova is an investigative reporter at the Free Press focused on government and police accountability in Detroit. Contact her at vikonomova@freepress.com.