Trail Mix: Turnout, residency and write-ins
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Welcome back to our weekly look at what's going on in local elections. Less than a month until the primary!
⛪ Churches for voting
The National Black Empowerment Council wants to boost voter turnout in Detroit's elections, president Darius Jones tells Axios. In 2021's mayoral election, Detroit reported 19% turnout for the general and 14% for the primary.
- The organization's candidate-neutral Lift Every Voice & Vote Detroit campaign is working with prominent Black churches to get all members registered and committed to vote.
- "The Black church since its inception has been ground zero for civic engagement," Jones says.
- He adds that the council wanted to target a community "that has a lot to offer, a lot of vision."
🗞️ Around the media
The Detroit News wrote about residency issues in the mayor's race, noting that Detroit native and longtime city pastor Rev. Solomon Kinloch Jr. lived in Oakland County for most of a couple of decades before becoming a registered Detroit voter in March 2024. The article points out Mayor Mike Duggan moved from Livonia to become mayor and former Mayor Dave Bing had lived in Oakland County, and that two other candidates own other homes outside the city.
- The Kinloch campaign said in a statement: "The issue's been asked about, and it's been answered … let's move on to the issues voters care about."
- In other news, Kinloch's campaign is considering how an IRS rule change on churches' involvement in politics could impact the candidate's strategy, per the Michigan Chronicle.
- Meanwhile, head to Outlier for any questions about write-in candidates.
💬 A little levity
We've heard some fun turns of phrase from candidates in this race. A good number come from candidate Fred Durhal III, who has attributed bits of wisdom to his grandmother, like, "There is no romance without finance."
- Also from Durhal, the alliterative "creating a path that leads to colleges and careers, not cages and caskets."
- We also find our brains cycling through a couple of other catchphrases: Saunteel Jenkins' "I'm Thinkin' Jenkins" and Kinloch's "Lift Every Block With Kinloch."
- Email [email protected] and let us know which we missed!