Congregants confiding that they’ve felt ignored by government leaders is part of the reason why Rev. Solomon Kinloch says he decided to run for mayor in 2025. 

The 51-year-old leader of Triumph Church launched his long-anticipated mayoral campaign last week with a high-profile event at The Fox Theatre. He’s seeking to unite corporate, nonprofit and community leaders around fixing Detroit’s biggest problems. Yet, Kinloch said he has no plans to step down from his role at the helm of a 40,000-member network of churches across the metro region.

“I don’t know anybody in this town that has access to as many voices on a weekly basis,” Kinloch said. “I get bombarded. Hearing that, I can’t be apathetic.” 

Kinloch spent about 40 minutes Monday discussing his platform and approach to politics with BridgeDetroit inside the Chroma building, just a few blocks from Triumph’s east campus. 

He plans to release a four-year plan that outlines his ambitions for a prospective first term. He’s landed on a few initial ideas, like building new grocery stores to “end food deserts,” creating 10,000 units of affordable housing, supporting workforce training for $35 per hour jobs and launching the “greatest” downpayment assistance programs in Detroit’s history. 

The nascent campaign is moving fast, scheduling media appearances and organizing 100 listening tours across Detroit. Though the mayoral race is nonpartisan, Kinloch attended the Michigan Democratic Party convention in the Renaissance Center last weekend to meet voters.  

“The momentum is building,” Kinloch said. “I knew it would come because people were asking me to step out, but I am amazed at how fast it came. People just smell optimism in the air, and I think it’s a great chance to do something special.”

After Kinloch’s campaign launch, state Rep. Joe Tate announced he wouldn’t pursue a mayoral bid days before he was scheduled to make a campaign announcement. Kinloch said he’ll be talking soon with Tate, who Kinloch called a smart and strategic man with a “good heart.”

Kinloch has the potential to galvanize a strong base of supporters through his ministry. Kinloch learned his craft at New Bethel Baptist Church under the late Rev. C.L. Franklin, a civil rights leader, comrade of Martin Luther King Jr. and father of Aretha Franklin.

“I come from a tradition where the church is not just a spiritual institution, it is an economical institution, a social institution, a political institution,” he said. “You have people reimagining what church is and going back to the foundational tenets of the church. I don’t believe that a church can be a part of society and be separate from society.”

Kinloch said he’s never seen an election where politicians don’t reach out to churches for their support.

“Like I said to (former Vice President Kamala) Harris, the African American preacher still has an unrivaled place in the heart of people,” Kinloch said. “The people who question that are people that are not a part of this community. If you’re in this community, you know that 27 years gives me the benefit of being at that altar, listening to the most intimate concerns of people – things that they won’t say in city hall meetings and town hall meetings – and they want this to work.” 

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

BridgeDetroit: You’ve pledged to create grocery stores, affordable housing units, boost workforce training and downpayment assistance programs. How do you plan to do that?

Kinloch: There’s an under leveraging of our corporate allies, our philanthropic community, our faith-based community, community organizations, and even our labor unions.

If we convene conversations with our stakeholders who have a vested interest in the future well-being of all of the residents, I believe that we can have a collaborative table that can partner them with the residents in the city.

So many times we come in, lording our agenda and will over people. It’s time to have an administration that ensures that people are in partnership and creating their own destiny and the way they want their community to look.

You’ve got hundreds of millions of dollars being distributed and dispersed from all of these foundations every year. No one that I’m aware of is looking at all of those dollars to figure out how they can be intensely and intentionally used to benefit a holistic vision for the city. 

Many philanthropic organizations are already doing good work. We have great partners. They’re looking for opportunities, and I believe the administration not only has a responsibility to communicate that, but we can also convene that in order to give them a platform to have those discussions.

BD: What gives you the impression that philanthropic leaders would get on board rather than fund the projects they’ve prioritized through their own planning processes?

Kinloch: COVID changed everything. Disparities we knew existed, it exacerbated them and demanded what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. talked about when he talked about the fierce ‘urgency of right now,’ we have to urgently deal with the disease that is affecting everyday lives of the citizens of our city.

(The church) hosted and had conversations in the midst of COVID. I started Code: Red community conversations about how to build collaborative initiatives that could address it. We had conversations with philanthropies and foundations, corporate leaders who are more than receptive and looking for opportunities. 

Everyone I’ve talked to understands that we have a great foundation now that we haven’t had in a long time, and they understand that there’s a need to build on that.

BD: There is a loud contingent of the Democratic Party that doesn’t like its association with corporations, but you see potential for partnership there. How will you navigate hard conversations with more left-leaning voters who don’t want to get in bed with corporate leaders? 

Kinloch: I don’t think there’s one way to address the problems that face our community. I believe that one of the things that we got to learn how to do is be willing to find common ground, even when there is disagreement.

We ought to be willing to work with anybody that’s willing to work with us. If we have a corporate partner that is looking to invest in this city and looking to invest in the future well being of his residents, we should sit down and have a conversation about that.

It’s not going to just take one way to do it and one group to do it. It’s going to take all of us. That’s why I believe that the mayoral seat needs a unifier. We need somebody that’s not going to divide us, but pull us together. We need somebody that’s going to be willing to work with people and give people the benefit of doubt, but we also need somebody who’s going to hold corporate people responsible if they don’t deliver on the promises that they make.

BD: You’ve talked of Detroit as a tale of two cities. We hear that critique often from folks who are frustrated with not feeling the impact of economic development in their neighborhoods. Why hasn’t the city’s revival benefitted everyone? 

Kinloch: We have to look at where we came from. We had a deep and dark cloud that hovered over the city and we went into a dark place of debt and bankruptcy. Mayor Duggan came in in his administration and laid a sturdy and stable foundation. He’s used the last 12 years in order to bring us to the place that we are now.

Everyone knows, at this particular point, we have a strong foundation. Anybody who knows anything about construction knows the worst thing to do is to build a house on a shaky foundation. We have to make sure to build a house that not just benefits some people, but benefits all people. 

Downtown has made tremendous progress. One of the things we encountered, even when we talked about our launch and going to the Fox Theatre, there was a sentiment that it’s a privileged place.

We have to make sure every resident in this city feels included, that this is their city and they should feel a part of it. I believe that being a part of the collaboration and creation in their own neighborhood reminds them that they own the city of Detroit. They’re not renters.

BD: Some residents say the benefits haven’t extended beyond downtown because tax captures keep revenue from being spent outside of downtown. Would you change that?

Kinloch: One of the things we can do is ensure that the same access that we give to our corporate allies and partners, we are making sure that the citizens have access to those same resources.

Not to just build in downtown, but to build throughout the entire city of Detroit. The land bank has tens of thousands of properties. One of the things I talked about in my launch speech is making sure that people have access to purchasing those homes, access to subsidies and grants that give them the ability to leverage down payments.

I want to launch one of the greatest downpayment programs in the city’s history to assist them. That’s the greatest pathway to generational wealth, making sure that they have access to renovate those homes, putting them in a skilled trades program that gives them the ability to hire people that can renovate those homes and earn money to go back and buy homes themselves.

I believe that the resources are already there, the conversation just needs to be convened and communicated so that people have an opportunity to participate.

BD: One critique I’ve heard is a perception that you’re from outside Detroit. You grew up here but lived in Oakland Township for a decade before coming back last year. How are you navigating that concern? 

Kinloch: Up until recently, I’ve never been raised with the question of whether I was a Detroiter. That’s amazing to me, when you look at the 27 years fighting for Detroiters.

I saw a sign on the chest of somebody this weekend at the Michigan Democratic Party Convention that says, ‘I rock with Kinloch.’ Well, the receipts of the record for 27 years is that Kinloch has rocked and worked for the residents in the city of Detroit.

During COVID, Kinloch was on the front line making sure that children had tablets to do their homework and to continue they were already behind. We couldn’t afford for them to continue to stay behind, and so we made sure we stepped up and gave out thousands of tablets without any corporate assistance. We turned every campus we had into a human resource station, passing out thousands of packages of food and groceries. It was to such an extent that people started calling us wanting to drop off hundreds of meals in order to make sure that we were able to continue to work that we’ve been in.

It’s not work that we just started doing, it’s work that we have been doing. Detroit has always been at the forefront of everything we do. Anyone who raises a question about where our heart is someone that evidently has not seen the record and receipt of all the work that we’ve been doing.

BD: Have you decided who would replace you at Triumph if you became mayor? 

Kinloch: I’m not retiring. We need to look at ministers serving full time in municipal leadership as nothing new, particularly in the city of Detroit. 

We’ve had Nicholas Hood, father and son, serve full-time on the City Council and pastor churches. We’ve had David Eberhard who sat on City Council. You had Kevin Butler sit on the council and pastor. 

When you look across the country, Dwight Jones is pastor of First Baptist Richmond and he served consecutive terms as mayor (of Richmond, Virginia). You can go to Floyd Flake in Queens, New York, you can go to James Meeks in Chicago, you can go to U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock in Atlanta.

When we raise the question, ‘Can you do both?’ One of the things, it reminds us how disengaged and disconnected we are from people. Privilege is spoken when you talk about primary focus. The average person doesn’t have the benefit of being able to do one thing.

If we’re living in a time where we’re not seeing those that need to step up and take the kind of actions that need to be taken, we can’t wait. Because of this ‘urgency of right now,’ we got to do it. 

I believe what Eddie Glaude says, at some point you have to become the type of leader you’re looking for.

BD: There’s a long tradition of faith leaders getting involved in politics, but being the mayor is a big job. You could be awoken in the middle of the night and find part of the city underwater. Would you pull back any church responsibilities if you become mayor? 

Kinloch: That’s a sensible question. You don’t pastor a church like Triumph Church alone and you’re not the mayor of the city alone. You have deputy mayors, you have chief of staff, you have chief operating officers and you have department heads. You have people that know the system, who’ve been managing the system.

What we will continue to do is to trust gifted people and make sure they have the strategic leadership in order to facilitate that. Right now, as I pastor Triumph Church, there are Sundays where something comes up or prevents me from getting to the service. There are people already on site, already on call, who are ready and prepared to step up. The church is 105 years old. It’s bigger than me. It was there long before I showed up, and it’ll be there long after I’m gone.

But as mayor, I will say this unashamedly, every chance I get, I will be at church, and I will be preaching. 

BD: As a pastor, you have a unique view on the challenges people are facing. What has that experience taught you, and how do you think those relationships can help get more people involved in this race?

Kinloch: The other day, I was reading a survey by Outlier Media that suggested 58% of the people polled did not believe that institutional politicians took their concerns into consideration.

There is a sentiment across this country that the people who are currently serving are not looking out for our best interests, whether that’s true or untrue. That is the sentiment, because perception is reality. 

A candidacy like mine can motivate ordinary people to not wait and sit on the sidelines, to not be in the bleachers, but to come down out of the stands. If we want to make this something good that works for the good of people, good people are going to have to be involved now. It doesn’t help them when they believe that there’s a tremendous cost to it.

My faith teaches me that you suffer for somebody else to be saved, that you go through difficulty for somebody else to be delivered.

My faith helps motivate me to say, ‘Sometimes you gotta be inconvenienced for somebody else to be inspired.’

I hope that my candidacy will motivate people to say, ‘If we want this thing to be different, we’ve got to be willing to do different things.’