Why Fred Durhal wants to be Detroit’s next mayor

Detroit City Council Member Fred Durhal III is running for mayor to bridge the gap between corporate interests and community needs. 

The former state lawmaker and first-term council member formed a campaign committee on Monday after months of quiet conversations with community leaders and advisers. He spoke with BridgeDetroit over the phone Monday for nearly an hour about his vision for the city’s future.

Durhal is the second council member to step forward for the 2025 mayoral election – Council President Mary Sheffield created her candidate committee last year. Former Detroit council president Saunteel Jenkins and businessman Joel Haashiim are also planning to run. 

Durhal represents District 7 on the city’s west side. He previously served two terms in the state House of Representatives and was a community liaison for the Michigan State Housing Development Authority. 

Durhal is the oldest of six children and son of former state Rep. Fred Durhal Jr., who was among 15 candidates for mayor in 2013. Mayor Mike Duggan was elected to his first term in that election. Duggan has not announced whether he will seek reelection for a fourth term, though Durhal suggested it’s unlikely.

Editor’s note: This interview has been slightly edited for length and clarity.

BridgeDetroit: Why do you want to be mayor? 

Durhal: I’ve seen the tremendous progress Detroit has made over the past 10 years and have had the opportunity to be a part of that. I want to see us continue to grow and ensure that everybody has an opportunity. 

We’ve been able to accomplish so much on the City Council for my district and I would like to duplicate that across the city. We’ve been aggressive. We went from zero recreation centers to two, brought new jobs to the district.

We’ve got to focus on a couple other things: Commercial corridors, continuing to build small businesses that help us build generational wealth, and our neighborhoods, whether that be public safety or continuing to ensure that it’s not blighted. 

BD: We’re nearly 10 years out of bankruptcy, property values are increasing, the finances of the city seem to be moving in the right direction. Have we turned a corner on addressing major issues that defined the last decade? 

Durhal: We definitely turned a corner. We are not the same city that we were 10 years ago. The biggest thing about momentum is it’s easy to lose it. I give Mayor Duggan a lot of credit. He’s done an amazing job, as well as the council that has been there. There’s so much further we can go. 

We’ve had some budget surpluses over the past few years. We’ve had $827 million in (federal pandemic relief) funding. After 2026, that funding will not be there. It’s imperative to have a leader who understands the budget, who has a relationship with the Legislature in Lansing and knows how to create a healthy relationship amongst the council.

BD: Have you talked with your colleagues on the council about running for mayor? 

Durhal: There has been a little dialogue. Folks in the news have thrown names out there before announcing our exploratory committee. I like to think I have a great relationship with the majority of my colleagues. 

BD: Council President Mary Sheffield formed a candidate committee as well. Mayoral elections usually attract quite a few candidates. How will you distinguish yourself from other council members who might run? 

Durhal: When you look at issues that have come before council, sometimes there’s some contention, particularly of how to grow our city. I am very unapologetic about the votes that I take, because I do my homework, I engage with the community, and I lead with my heart as well as my mind.

Oftentimes we talk about and speak in the narrative as if Detroit is divided, but we have to become one Detroit, meaning that we’ve got to bridge the gap between corporate as well as what’s happening in the streets or our neighborhoods. The only way that you can be able to do that is if you’re trusted enough in both circles. We’ll have that trust and continue to build that trust amongst residents, amongst our business community. 

We’ve got to strengthen our commercial corridors to help rebuild the neighborhoods. We’ve got to work to create walkable neighborhoods so folks can get fresh groceries and do everything that they need to do within one mile of their home, and also work to push some of our residents to become entrepreneurs themselves. 

One of the key issues in Detroit is poverty. We’ve got to bring more jobs here. We’ve got to increase generational wealth and small businesses are part of that. 

BD: You worked on your father’s campaign when he ran for mayor in 2013. What did you learn from that experience? 

Durhal: It’s funny how things come full circle, right? I was a deputy manager on my dad’s campaign about 10 years ago. It was interesting to see the process. What a time in Detroit. I remember Benny Napoleon and Duggan, Lisa Howes, there were a ton of candidates in that race.

My dad is an amazing public servant. You know, I’ve got a tremendous amount of respect for my father. I would not be here in a position I am in without my dad, who has taught me so much. From that race, I learned that a lot of politics is about timing. 

Before I considered forming a committee, I talked to my wife. Being a new father, I wanted to see if the timing was right. I looked at myself. I’m 40 years old. I’m a son of Detroit. I’ve served in the state Legislature. You don’t know what the current mayor is going to do, although you hear rumblings of what may happen. I don’t want Detroit to go backwards. 

I think folks feel the resurgence of Detroit when they go downtown. They feel it a bit in their neighborhoods. You look at burned down houses 10 years ago. Street lights weren’t on in a lot of places, trash wasn’t being picked up. In some instances when you call the cops they didn’t come because they were overworked and underpaid. 

What I learned is timing, utilizing the experiences that you’ve had, placing yourself in the right place and seeing that path forward.

BD: I hear from people who are anxious about the implications of growth for the city, who feel that investments are not supporting long-term residents. How do we grow the city’s population in a way that ensures equity? 

Durhal: We’ve become very intentional about how we build, where we build. It also involves who is building. We have to create opportunities for smaller developers, minority developers, who are intentional about building affordable housing.

We’ve got to work to repopulate our neighborhoods by building. We’ve lost a lot of our housing stock that could not be rehabbed, so it had to be demolished to provide a level of neighborhood stability. 

We’re pushing this ordinance now to fast track incentives for smaller developers so it doesn’t take them as long to build these affordable units. We’re trying to build 1,400 to 1,500 units per year. 

Workforce housing is important because these are people who don’t qualify as low-income but don’t make enough to get ahead. It’s the missing middle.  

Some of these projects may be attractive to college students but the state of Michigan has an issue with talent retention. Folks go to school in Detroit, off to college somewhere and sometimes they don’t return. We’ve got to build an environment that’s conducive for them to have jobs here. People move to cities because of jobs, schools and a place they can raise their family. That involves safe communities. 

BD: The administration has celebrated the reduction of violent crime, though Police Chief James White has said that it’s still too high. What is your approach to public safety? 

Durhal: Chief White is one of my favorites. He has done an amazing job. I’ve been a supporter of the community violence intervention program. We’ve still got a ways to go.

We’ve got to focus on the underlying issues of crime; we’re not going to arrest our way out of crime. I’d love to see our health department be more involved in mental health. We are looking at a health crisis. 

When we talk about making our streets safer, it’s going to involve getting mental health under control, continuing to provide resources to our officers, building the pipeline for our officers. At this time last year we had around 230 vacancies in DPD. Now we have a little over 40, because we took action and raised the salary of officers. 

There is an adverse distrust of law enforcement on a national scale. We’ve started to scratch the surface with community policing, having neighborhood police officers who go to community relation meetings. When I was a kid, they used to have a program called the Blue Pigs. They were like a singing group that would go to schools. You talk about the psyche of young folks who may be scared of the police. Psychologically, that helps you build a level of trust with law enforcement. We’ve got to do those types of things. 

BD: Roughly a third of buses are showing up late. In these conversations about population growth, state leaders talk about creating better public transportation for vibrant cities. Where do we need to go with public transit? 

Durhal: One of the biggest issues the next mayor will have to tackle is transportation. We’ve got to continue to increase the number of buses that we have on the road, but we’ve also got to make service more efficient. We’ve got to ensure that they are running on time so people can get to work on time and we’ve got to do a better job of paying our drivers. 

I know we’re talking about regional transit a little bit, but we’ve got to take care of home first. Most of the cities that young folks move to have a regional transit system. It is just amazing how transit can connect folks, it’s better for the environment and it’s more affordable as well. 

I think there’s an opportunity to bring high speed rail to our region, whether it’s connecting to the University of Michigan, our airport, Pontiac or even Flint. 

If I was mayor, I would try to strengthen that conversation, working with our Wayne County executive and having those tough conversations with Oakland County and Macomb County.