Saunteel Jenkins is running to be Detroit’s next mayor and secure a bright future for the city’s most vulnerable residents. 

Jenkins, 54, launched her candidacy Tuesday alongside community leaders and supporters inside St. Suzanne Cody Rouge Community Resource Center. Jenkins said the site has personal significance. She grew up nearby on Westwood Street and her brother was fatally shot a few blocks away in 1991 after leaving a basketball game in the same gymnasium. 

“A young man full of hopes and dreams, just a block away on the corner of Orangelawn and Grandville, was murdered,” Jenkins said. “That day, a light went out in this world but a fire was igniting inside of me. A fire to make a difference and ensure that every Detroiter has the opportunities my brother was denied.” 

More than three decades later, Jenkins said her brother’s death continues to drive her work to support vulnerable residents at The Heat and Warmth Fund. The nonprofit organization helps low-income families pay utility costs and make energy-efficient home improvements. Campaign materials describe Jenkins, a social worker and breast cancer survivor, as a “beacon of resilience.” 

Mayor Mike Duggan’s decision not to seek reelection and instead run for governor of Michigan in 2026 opened the doors for Detroit’s first competitive race in a decade. Jenkins says the city is at a crossroads, where its next leader will have a generational impact on the trajectory of residents and neighborhoods. 

She’s the third candidate to formally declare their candidacy for the August 2025 primary, where a slate of nonpartisan candidates will compete on the same ballot. The top two vote-earners will advance to the November general election.

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Council President Mary Sheffield, considered an early front-runner, and businessman Joel Haashiim launched their campaigns in 2024. State Rep. Joe Tate, D-Detroit, and Council Member Fred Durhal III formed committees allowing them to begin fundraising. Triumph Church leader Solomon Kinloch is expected to make an announcement and attorney Todd Perkins said he’ll make a decision this month. 

Jenkins seeks a return to city government after resigning her City Council seat in 2014 to lead THAW. She was known as a moderating voice on the council who navigated difficult decisions during the city’s bankruptcy. Jenkins’ professional experience straddles the public and private sectors. 

Early campaign finance reports show donations are coming in from nonprofit leaders and corporate executives. She raised nearly $120,000 in just two months last year.

The campaign team includes fundraisers and communications professionals who worked on past campaigns for U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin and former U.S. Rep. Brenda Lawrence. Jenkins called Slotkin a friend in social media posts and campaigned for her in 2024. 

Jenkins’ campaign launch was attended by about 100 business leaders, family members and even shelter visitors from Mariners Inn, where she once worked as a treatment director. 

QuanTez Pressley, lead pastor of Third New Hope Baptist Church and a member of the Board of Police Commissioners, said he first met Jenkins when she ran for City Council in 2009. He was “thoroughly impressed” by her knowledge and sense of purpose. 

“It’s a unique time from my vantage point,” Pressley said. “This is the first decision for mayor we’re going to make without the ire of desperation. It’s about building on momentum and not trying to avoid disaster. A lot of the mayoral campaigns during my lifetime have been about (avoiding disaster). It’s always been a dire circumstance.”

A return to Detroit government 

Among her priorities, Jenkins will call for a master plan for every district, afterschool and community center investments, safe streets and neighborhoods, and career pathways, including a Youth Opportunity Initiative with support from businesses and community groups to offer paid internships, apprenticeships, and job training for young people. She’s also touting cradle-to-career support like greater access to childcare, affordable housing for renters and owners, and services for seniors. 

Government work started for Jenkins as a young chief of staff to the late former Council President Maryann Mahaffey, a progressive icon who served the council from 1973 to 2005. Jenkins was elected to the City Council in 2009 and reelected to an at-large seat in 2013. 

Jenkins said Mahaffey taught her that “social workers put bandaids on wounds caused by poor public policy.” Jenkins later said she could be considered a progressive as well. 

“I would leave it to others to describe it, but I would accept progressive,” Jenkins said. “I am a Democrat. I’m a social worker, but I would just describe my political brand as a servant.” 

Jenkins was the third Black woman to serve as council president, after Erma Henderson and Monica Conyers. She took the position after the departure of then-Council President Charles Pugh, who was later convicted of criminal sexual misconduct. 

She joined the City Council at the age of 38. At the time, newspapers described her as part of a new crop of council leaders including future Council President Pro Tem James Tate, Council Member Scott Benson, now-Water Department Director Gary Brown and ex-council member Andre Spivey, who later served jail time for bribery.

Jenkins’ time on the City Council was defined by tough decisions forced by the city’s financial hardship. Jenkins was critical of emergency management but voted to support a consent agreement with the state in 2012.

She said she joined the council during dire times for the city. 

“Of course, the biggest challenge I faced during my tenure was Detroit’s looming bankruptcy,” Jenkins said. “I helped to lead us through the city’s darkest economic days, emerging stronger and setting the foundation for the Detroit that we all see today.” 

Jenkins opposed leasing Belle Isle to the state but supported an alternative deal that included a shorter lease and stronger assurances that state management would improve the park.

The council of Jenkins’ time sparred with Bing over budgets that included steep cuts, parks closures, police layoffs and other austerity measures. Bing is a Jenkins ally now. He is scheduled to headline a fundraiser for her later this week.

She co-founded the council’s Youth Violence Prevention Task Force and advocated for creating a conservancy to keep recreation centers open. Jenkins also voted for a 2012 ban on panhandling inside restaurants and near ATMs, gas stations and drive throughs. It made begging a misdemeanor.

She also supported “right-sizing” services, accelerating home demolitions and advocated for police to build stronger community relationships. Jenkins voted to authorize a bond proposal to build the current Detroit Public Safety headquarters on former casino property.

Jenkins opposed giving the mayor control of Detroit Public Schools, but supported a ballot initiative that would have let voters decide. She said she’s warmed to the idea because issues in the city’s schools have worsened since then.

A leadership role at THAW opened soon after Jenkins was reelected. Jenkins said she was called to take on new challenges and left her council seat to become CEO of the nonprofit. 

Other leadership experience

Working at THAW, Jenkins touted her work to secure $5 million in pandemic relief funds from the state to create a water payment assistance program.

“That’s what I’ve done my entire life, finding the unmet needs of Detroiters, coming up with real solutions to those problems and doing everything in my power to address them,” she said. 

Amanda Morris and Monica Moody are THAW employees who attended the Tuesday campaign kickoff. They described her as a compassionate and driven leader. 

“Duggan did a great job, he brought a lot of business and a lot of attention to the city,” Morris said. “But Mrs. Jenkins is going to come and not only keep that up, she’s going to be here for the people. Help the people that’s in need, the low-income people.” 

At THAW, Jenkins defended hiring Christine Beatty, a chief of staff for former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick who was reportedly behind on making court-ordered restitution payments. In a 2023 op-ed published in and responding to reporting by the Detroit Free Press, Jenkins said Beatty deserves a second chance. Beatty was in the audience on Tuesday.

Kilpatrick is a former classmate of Jenkins’ and hired her as a campaign treasurer while he was a state representative. She previously described him as a smart and charismatic person who wasn’t ready to be mayor.

If elected, Jenkins would be Detroit’s first woman mayor. She lives in the Lafayette Park neighborhood with husband Carl Bentley, who has been a vocal opponent of the state’s plan to redesign I-375.

She previously worked as a business development director for Platform Learning, a private education company that provides free tutoring services. Jenkins was also a residential treatment director at Mariners Inn and serves several boards. 

Jenkins was born and raised in Detroit. She’s the oldest daughter of a mailman and sales associate at Hudson’s. She attended Detroit Public Schools, graduated from Cass Technical High School and received bachelor and master’s degrees in social work from Wayne State University.

Jenkins started Petite Sweets, a bakery and dessert catering company, and held positions with several nonprofit organizations, including Focus: HOPE, Mariners Inn Substance Treatment Center and Healthy Start. She worked as a community educator for Detroit Edison, a family therapist at the Boys and Girls Republic and was development director for a tutoring company.