A new poll in the Detroit mayor’s race reaffirms City Council President Mary Sheffield’s front-runner status and suggests three contenders are vying for second place.

Sheffield reportedly led with 38% of the vote, more than twice the support of her closest rival. Former nonprofit CEO and City Council President Saunteel Jenkins said, “it’s a virtual jump ball for the second spot” with 22% of likely voters undecided. Nothing is settled until the Aug. 5 primary results are in. 

Rev. Solomon Kinloch Jr. had 14% in the poll, followed by former Police Chief James Craig at 9% and Jenkins at 8%

Detroit’s mayoral race is nonpartisan. The top two vote-earners in the Aug. 5 primary move on to the general election to face off in a head-to-head matchup.

The poll was done by Lansing-based pollster Glengariff Group and commissioned by The Detroit News and WDIV-TV. The poll contacted 500 likely primary voters from May 27-29, mostly over cell phone, and has a 4.4% margin of error. Pollster Richard Czuba said the full results will be released later this week.

Attorney Todd Perkins had 4.3%, followed by Council Member Fred Durhal III with 1.6%, businessman Jonathan Barlow with 1.4%, DaNetta Simpson with 0.6% and businessman Joel Haashiim with 0.6%.

Polling has consistently shown Sheffield ahead of her primary opponents, starting at 34% in February, then 32% in early May and 38% by the end of the month. 

Kinloch’s numbers fluctuated from 5% to 25% to 14% in the three polls publicly released this year.

Craig’s support declined, starting at 20% before dropping to 19% and 9% in the latest poll.

Jenkins’ support has remained relatively flat, moving from 12% to 7% and 8% over the year’s polling.

The poll may have strengthened Perkins’ argument that the Detroit Regional Chamber PAC undervalued his status by not inviting him to join a debate at the Mackinac Policy Conference. Perkins polled higher than Durhal, who was invited to participate.

Neither was invited to an upcoming prime time debate being organized by WDIV-TV, which used the poll as a threshold to invite Sheffield, Kinloch, Craig and Jenkins.

Perkins encouraged supporters to reach out to the station’s general manager and demand his inclusion.

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What page are we on?

Today’s notebook covers the June 3 formal session.

Dig into the agenda, read Detroit Documenter notes or watch the recording for more details.

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Looking for more coverage of 2025 elections? We’re interviewing candidates and community leaders for Detroit Next.

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New election events calendar

Readers have been asking for a way to stay on top of election forums and debates.

We’ve delivered: Click this link to see a Google calendar that allows you to copy event listings to your own calendar. It will not include campaign events organized by candidates.

If you’re looking for more one-on-one conversations with candidates, we’ve got you covered there, too. BridgeDetroit attended the Mackinac Policy Conference to interview Sheffield, Craig, Kinloch, Jenkins, Perkins and Durhal.

Visit a special page on our website for all things election-related, including voter guides, Detroit Next content, all of my coverage and links to upcoming events.

BridgeDetroit is continuing to hold candidate forums across the city. The next one is June 12 in District 4.

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Overheard in CAYMC

The public comment portion of recent meetings has become a sounding board for residents to speak on 2025 candidates. 

Detroit water activist Meeko Williams railed against Jenkins’ candidacy and criticized candidates for participating in the Mackinac Policy Conference debate. Williams said the city is at a crossroads and needs a leader who has actually worked to solve problems.

Activist Jahdante Smith said Sheffield declined a meeting withher about community violence issues and noted her campaign for mayor. Sheffield responded that they did meet six months ago and is open to doing so again.

Another anonymous caller praised Sheffield for being a “great leader” and wished her “all the best in your future endeavors.”

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Davis Aerospace Academy nears smooth landing

Davis Aerospace Technical High School is on its final approach to landing back at the Coleman A. Young International Airport.

The City Council approved a 25-year lease with Detroit Public Schools Community District to relocate the high school to a main terminal facility on airport grounds. Deputy Superintendent Machion Jackson said the board of education will vote on the lease agreement at its next meeting, and she’s confident it will pass.

Council Member Scott Benson said students can work toward pilot licenses and certifications to operate drones and perform maintenance work. Applications will be open to all students who are interested in joining the first class in Fall 2026.

“This is another reason residency in the city of Detroit has its privileges,” Benson said.

The terminal will be renovated. The 53,000-square-foot terminal building will house 200 students. Jackson said DPSCD will be recruiting middle school students to join the new school.

Benson said this has been in progress since he joined the council in 2014 on a platform of revitalizing the former City Airport. Residents were eager to see the high school return, and DPSCD made it a goal in its 2022 facility master plan.

“There have been knuckles hurt from door knocking, and we finally are here in the year 2025,” Benson said. “This is the fruition of what it means to have the constitution and motivation to see something through.”

DPSCD Board Member Sherry Gay Dagnogo thanked state lawmakers like Rep. Regina Weiss, D-Oak Park, and Sen. Darrin Camilleri, D-Trenton, for appropriating $7 million in state funding to help renovate the facility.

“We’re seeing a lot of disinvestment, but this is a time where we got it right,” she said.

Benson says the school, along with other efforts to revitalize the airport, will bring in investment from the state and federal government to make the airport a regional attraction.

The lease agreement expires in 2055, offering DSPCD the hangar for an annual rent of $349,675. DPSCD can reduce the rent by making capital investments.

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No platform for litigious Detroiter

The City Council rejected a request from a Detroit man who wanted to speak with members about a pending lawsuit stemming from bus crashes.

Kirk Leaphart drafted his own “settlement agreement” for a lawsuit he hasn’t filed yet, seeking $890,000 for injuries allegedly caused by two 2024 incidents. City Attorney Graham Anderson advised the council not to entertain Leaphart’s request to address them.

“If every individual who got injured on a Detroit city bus said, ‘I’m not going to file a lawsuit, I’m going to file a request to speak in front of the council to say I deserve x amount of dollars,’ that would be a terrible use of resources for this body and the city as a whole,” Anderson said.

Leaphart said he was riding a bus last September when the driver hit the brakes to avoid a collision, causing Leaphart to slam into a metal tire cover. Two days later, Leaphart was a passenger on another bus that hit a vehicle.

Leaphart said the incidents caused permanent spinal and arm injuries. He walked with a limp on Tuesday and struggled to get up and down stairs in the council chambers. No video evidence exists of the first crash, according to documents shared by Leaphart.

After the meeting, Leaphart said he’s attempting to exhaust all options before filing a lawsuit.

“I have the First Amendment right, and I have a Michigan constitutional right to petition the government for redress of grievances,” Leaphart said. “I can choose any branch I want. I can choose the City Council, I don’t have to file a lawsuit … I want to exhaust every remedy before I go to court.”

Anderson said Leaphart has been suing the city since 1998. An online search found lawsuits dating back to at least 2007.

Council President Pro Tem James Tate Jr. said residents have the right to petition the city before filing a lawsuit, and cautioned against squashing freedom of speech by rejecting requests to speak for frivolous reasons.

“If he was attempting to speak on overall bus safety in a general sense, that would be a different discussion,” Anderson said. “My understanding is he wants to talk about money that he feels he’s owed.”

Sheffield noted that a review of petition rules is underway, but until it’s finished, she will put any petition on the agenda for transparency’s sake.

An annual risk management report showed payouts from lawsuits involving bus crashes steadily dropped to their lowest point since 2018.

The Detroit Department of Transportation paid out $2 million in auto settlements last year, down from a high mark of $10.5 million in 2022.

The report, which has yet to be presented to the City Council, states DDOT focused on reviewing the cause of accidents and reducing preventable losses.

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RIP funeral honors for elected officials 

Benson scrapped a proposed ordinance that would give former elected officials a police motorcade escort and color guard at their funerals, with costs covered by taxpayers.

Benson introduced the ordinance last September and announced it would be abandoned after the Law Department notified him it was illegal. Taxpayer dollars can’t be legally provided to individuals for private purposes.

“I wanted to ensure we honor those who serve in these seats,” Benson said.

He argued the services would be relatively minor, including a testimonial resolution for the deceased, flying city flags at half-staff, plus a police escort and color guard at the funeral.

Benson’s proposal would have provided funeral services if requested by an immediate family member, so long as the elected official’s funeral took place within the city. The associated costs for providing services would have come from the city’s General Fund.

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Tate drops demolition hold up 

A $410,453 demolition contract is moving forward after Tate dropped concerns about preserving one of the buildings set to come down.

Tate had inquired about the possibility of saving 17205 Lahser Rd, which once housed Redford Printing Co. and Detroit Suburban Newspapers, Inc.

Tate said he now agrees with the administration’s determination that the building is “too far gone” and the building is “not as historically significant” as he originally thought.

“When I fall in love with projects, I fall in love with them hard,” Tate said. “I squeezed all the juice I could out of this particular one.”

The council unanimously approved a demolition contract with Inner City Contracting, funded through American Rescue Plan Act pandemic relief dollars. Two buildings are included in the contract: 17205 Lahser and 22050 Argus. Both are publicly owned.