Detroit Trail Mix: We're still thinking about that debate
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Welcome back to our regular politics update, looking at the Detroit mayor's race with just over two weeks until Election Day on Nov. 4.
🤔 Still thinking about that debate: We're digging more into a couple of the interesting moments from Wednesday night's debate on WXYZ.
On troops: Moderators asked the Rev. Solomon Kinloch Jr. and City Council President Mary Sheffield if they'd welcome National Guard presence in Detroit, referencing President Trump's controversial deployment to U.S. cities.
- Sheffield is strongly opposed and doesn't believe "militarizing our neighborhoods is the solution … We know the national troops cause some very, very unfortunate memories of [the 1967 uprising] and we do not want to go back." Instead, she'd welcome federal funding to address root causes.
- Kinloch told moderators and reporters it's "never acceptable" for the National Guard to patrol streets in a "martial law fashion." Instead, he would welcome collaboration to "make sure that we're protecting soft spots throughout the city of Detroit" and potentially work in partnership with law enforcement agencies in large crowds and venues.
Zingers: Kinloch criticized Detroit so far spending, per a dashboard, just approximately 10% of its COVID relief funds on buckets designated "neighborhoods" and "affordable housing."
- Sheffield countered: "I understand, pastor, that it takes about an hour and a half to get from Oakland Township to Detroit to know what's happening on the ground here. While you've been building up Southfield, you could have been building up Detroit."
- Sheffield was referencing Kinloch's home in Oakland Township — he became a registered Detroit voter in March 2024, per the News — and his Detroit-based church's presence in Southfield.
Kinloch interjected that Sheffield also owns a home in Southfield.
- He also maintained his church's focus on assisting communities in Detroit, later criticizing Sheffield's Jeezy tickets controversy as a warning sign of a culture of corruption returning to City Hall.
📬 Email [email protected]: What were your debate takeaways? This was a big chance for Kinloch to make up ground in the public eye — do you think he did?
🗳️ Another thumbs up: City Council Member Gabriela Santiago-Romero endorsed Sheffield, becoming the second sitting member to do so after Fred Durhal III.
- Sheffield also endorsed Santiago-Romero in her District 6 bid for reelection.
- "From championing the Right to Counsel ordinance, to investing in our local small businesses, Mary has put in the work and will hit the ground running on day one," Santiago-Romero said in a press release.
📰 Around the news: In a must-read, the Free Press analyzed Sheffield's city council record, tracking her 2018 "People's Bills" and showing her various initiatives' successes, losses and political compromises.
- The Detroit News' profile of Kinloch highlighted the pastor's message around his experience with poverty, as well as his journey of becoming a preacher and transforming Triumph Church — plus several controversies.
- BridgeDetroit's recent interview with Sheffield ranged from the Jeezy tickets, which she called a learning experience, to making connections in Lansing and leading differently than Mayor Mike Duggan.