Detroit mayoral candidate Mary Sheffield waves to supporters before she headed inside to vote at the Horatio Williams Foundation on Antietam Avenue in Detroit on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025.
Detroit mayoral candidate Rev. Solomon Kinloch of Triumph Church speaks with supporters during a meet and greet held at Soul 2 Go on Whittier Avenue located in Detroit’s east side on Thursday, September 18, 2025.

Detroit City Council President Mary Sheffield made history Tuesday night, Nov. 4, becoming the city's first woman mayor in an election she led from start to finish.

The Associated Press and CNN called the race for Sheffield, who defeated the Rev. Solomon Kinloch Jr., pastor of Triumph Church. Sheffield celebrated 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.

The 12-year city council veteran was the first mayoral candidate to form a committee in the race — two years before the election — to succeed Mayor Mike Duggan, who is opting to run for governor as an independent rather than seek a fourth term. She cruised to victory in the August primary, collecting 51% of the vote to Kinloch's 17% in a crowded nine-way contest.

Sheffield, who was viewed as the front-runner early on, vastly outraised Kinloch, pulling in $2.8 million over the campaign cycle. She drew top-dollar donations from political action committees, business executives and other local leaders, and eventually won Duggan's endorsement after the Aug. 5 primary. Kinloch raised roughly $790,000. His donors list included many small, individual contributors, with a few executives and parishioners of his estimated 40,000-person mega-church. He also was endorsed by the UAW.

The mostly low-key campaigns didn't really heat up until mid-October, when the rivalry turned fiery, with the two candidates trading barbs during their first televised televised debate at WXYZ-TV (Channel 7) over who is most qualified to lead the city. In the final week before the election, with Sheffield dogged by questions over an alleged prior romantic relationship with a city contractor, 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 covers only 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 the experience, using it in his ministry to help counsel others in similar situations.

Despite the hurdles, the pair ran robust campaigns that involved reaching voters through neighborhood canvassing, visits to churches and senior homes, along with billboards and countless ads.

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 a Free Press article 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 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. Nevertheless, Sheffield has said she hopes to cut property taxes for residents, build 44,000 new affordable housing units, improve city services and lend residents better access to city hall.

She and Kinloch had both vowed to tackle poverty and crime, but their approaches and scale of their plans differed. Kinloch said he would build 10,000 new affordable housing units.

Suggesting a “fudging of the numbers” that show Detroit crime at a historic low, Kinloch had said he would grow efforts allowing residents to police their own communities and lean more heavily on the federal government for help policing. (At one point, he was accused of saying he would welcome the National Guard to the city, but later said his comment was misconstrued.)

Sheffield, meanwhile, has said she will continue to fight for additional funding for Community Violence Intervention programs, which are credited in part for the city's decline in crime, as well as launch an Office of Gun Violence Prevention and expand community policing and mental health resources.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Detroit elects Mary Sheffield as next mayor, making history as first woman to lead city

Reporting by Violet Ikonomova, Dana Afana and M.L. Elrick, USA TODAY NETWORK / USA TODAY

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