Detroit Attorney Todd Russell Perkins filed paperwork to run for mayor in 2025, adding his name to a growing field of candidates.
Perkins, a former city attorney for Highland Park, runs a law firm bearing his name out of the Ford Building in downtown Detroit. Since December, he’s been publicly teasing a run to replace Mayor Mike Duggan, who won’t seek reelection when his term ends this year. Perkins formed a candidate committee on Jan. 13. He couldn’t be immediately reached Thursday, but has told reporters that he plans to make a formal announcement on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Perkins’ legal practice has a wide list of highly visible clients, often defending public officials who find themselves in legal trouble. The firm’s website lists expertise in civil and criminal litigation, real estate and family law, among other things. He represented former City Council Member George Cushingberry Jr. and champion boxer Floyd Merriweather Jr. The Detroit News was first to report on Perkins filing his candidate committee.
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Perkins represented former Flint emergency manager Darnell Earley, who was in charge when the city changed its water source to the Flint River, resulting in a lead exposure crisis. Earley was named in a class-action lawsuit and faced criminal charges filed by the Michigan attorney general, but the case was dismissed in 2022.
Perkins has also represented former council staff member Carol Banks and retired police officer Alonzo Jones, who were targets of an FBI corruption investigation dubbed Operation Northern Hook. Jones was sentenced to 15 months in prison for taking cash bribes.
Judge Kenneth King, who was sued last year for handcuffing a teen who fell asleep during a field trip to his courtroom, is another client. Perkins is representing Macomb County Prosecutor Peter Lucido, who is defending himself from an ethics complaint.
Other past clients of Perkins include Detroit journalist Charlie LeDuff in a case involving a domestic violence charge, which was dropped in 2024. Former Wayne County Chief Financial Officer Tony Saunders III was also represented by Perkins in a domestic assault case. Saunders pleaded no contest. State Rep. Mary Cavanagh was represented by Perkins when she pleaded guilty to drunken driving in 2022.
The prolific lawyer led several political causes in past years. Perkins was the lawyer for Detroit Forward, a political action committee that backed the late Benny Napoleon for mayor in 2013.
Perkins has also taken on racial justice issues. He was involved in organizing Detroit’s successful reparations ballot initiative. Perkins also helped organize another 2021 ballot initiative that sought to give Detroiters more power in appropriating money, which would have provided a funding mechanism for reparations initiatives. Voters rejected the charter amendment.
Perkins provided legal services to a Grosse Pointe Park woman whose neighbor hung a KKK flag in his window, a perceived act of racial intimidation.
Also in 2021, Perkins was ticketed by Grosse Pointe Shores and then sent racist hate mail after putting a large Black Lives Matter sign up outside his home. Perkins sued the city of Grosse Pointe Shores in federal court, though the case was dismissed.
Perkins represented a former Warren De La Salle High School student who alleged police targeted Black athletes in a 2019 hazing scandal. The case was dismissed, but Perkins appealed and the case was sent to the U.S. Court of Appeals in 2024.
Property tax records show Perkins sold his Grosse Pointe Shores home at the end of 2023. Detroit’s voter file shows Perkins registered to vote in Detroit in January 2024 from a home in the North End neighborhood. Property tax records show the home is owned by Kilimanjaro Management, Inc., which lists Perkins as its resident agent. The home was purchased in 2014.
Kilimanjaro is listed as a certified agent for the National Basketball Players Association.
In 2019, Perkins opened Lanette’s Shrimp House in Highland Park. The restaurant was named after his late wife, who died of complications from Lupus in 2016.
Saunteel Jenkins formally launched her campaign for mayor on Tuesday and announced in a press release Thursday that she was stepping down from her position as CEO of The Heat and Warmth Fund. City Council President Mary Sheffield announced her candidacy in December 2024.
Campaign committees were formed by Council Member Fred Durhal III, Michigan state Rep. Joe Tate and businessman Joel Haashiim. Sources close to Triumph Church Rev. Solomon Kinloch, Jr. say he is considering running for mayor too.