Mary Sheffield will become Detroit’s next mayor.  The City Council President defeated Pastor Solomon Kinloch, Jr. in Tuesday’s general election by a wide margin, winning more than 75 percent of the vote.  Sheffield went into the final campaign with overwhelming financial and voter support.  The new mayor-elect addressed hundreds of supporters at the MGM Grand just after 10 pm.   

“In this administration, everyone will have a seat at the table.  From our block clubs to our non-profits to our faith institutions, to our unions and the voices of our most vulnerable.  Because, guess what.  This city belongs to all of us.”  

About half an hour before Sheffield spoke, Pastor Kinloch delivered a fiery concession speech. 

“As the senior pastor of Triumph Church, I want you to know that fire just got re-ignited because, for the rest of my days, I’m going to keep on fighting for the citizens of the great city of Detroit. I love you and God bless you, my sweet Detroit.”  

Mary Sheffield will take the oath of office to become Detroit’s first woman mayor in January. 

Additional headlines from Wednesday, November 5, 2025

Detroit City Council Races 

In the at-large Detroit City Council race, Mary Waters and Coleman Young won the two available positions, defeating Janeé Ayers and James Harris.   

In District 2, Angela Whitfield Calloway defeated Roy McAlister, Jr. 

In District 3, incumbent Scott Benson beat challenger Cranstana Anderson.   

Renata Miller won the City Council election in District 5, beating Police Commissioner Willie Burton for the job.  This is the seat that will be vacated by Mayor-elect Mary Sheffield. 

Gabriela Santiago-Romero retains her council seat in District 6.  She beat challenger Tyrone Carter.  Santiago-Romero says she’ll continue working to protect residents in Southwest Detroit.  

“Making sure that we’re protecting immigrants…that was a huge task of mine to make sure that we leave the National Guard outside of the city, that we fight back against any kind of threats to our residents. And just making sure that we are prioritizing our neighborhoods.”  

Santiago-Romero will serve her second term in office, beginning in January. 

And Denzel McCampbell defeated Karen Whitsett in District 7.  That’s the seat that incumbent Fred Durhal left to run for mayor in the August primary. 

Dearborn Mayor 

Dearborn voters have elected Mayor Abdullah Hammoud for a second term.  He told a crowd supporters in Dearborn on Tuesday night that the city is a place for everyone to call home. 

Hammoud won with more than 70% of the votes in his bid against challenger Nagi Almudhegi. Hammoud became the city’s first Arab American and Muslim mayor in 2021, after mobilizing volunteers for clean-up efforts from catastrophic floods. 

Dearborn voters also overwhelmingly rejected a proposal to divide the city into wards for districted elections. 

Hamtramck Mayor 

The race to become the next mayor of Hamtramck was the closest of the night.  

Adam Alharbi won the race by just 11 votes.  He defeated Councilman Muhith Mahmood.  Those results are unofficial at this point.  A recount might be possibility.  

Incumbent mayor Amer Ghalib did not seek re-election because he was nominated to become the next U.S. Ambassador to Kuwait. 

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Unofficial results say that Adam Alharbi beat Muhith Mahmood in Hamtramck’s mayoral race by 11 votes in Tuesday’s election—but officials say the race isn’t over. 

Hamtramck City Clerk Rana Faraj says 150 absentee ballots were rejected for not having a signature on the ballot or for ballot signatures that didn’t match city records. 

“Letters are sent to the voters so that they know that they have until this Friday, 5 o’clock, to correct the ballot. Since the race was so close with just 11 votes difference, with 150 ballots pending to be corrected, it’s really anybody’s race at this point.”

Faraj said after voters correct their ballots at city hall, it could take up to a month for the ballots to be certified by Wayne County. 

Even after all ballots are accounted for, there is still a possibility for a re-count. 

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Next week, the Hamtramck will residents will elect a new mayor. 

That’s because the outgoing mayor, Amer Ghalib was picked to be the Kuwait ambassador. His Senate confirmation is stalling because of a positive remark he made about Saddam Hussein, liking a social media post comparing Jews to monkeys, and for his refusal to condemn Hamas’ attacks on Israeli civilians. 

Still, in Hamtramck, residents have a choice of who they want to be the next mayor. Those candidates include Adam Alharbi, Hamtramck City Council Member Muhith Mahmood, and write-in candidate Lynn Blasey.

WDET reporter Nargis Rahman reported on the race, and joined The Metro to discuss.

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Adam Alharbi, 44, is an engineer for the Department of Commerce. He’s running for Hamtramck mayor to improve the place he’s called home since he was a kid.

“I will show that I’m for everyone. I’m not a Yemeni candidate or a Muslim candidate, I’m an Hamtramckan candidate that I will serve everyone equally, regardless of race, religion,” he says.

Alharbi says among residents’ top concerns are high property taxes and water bills, along with deteriorating water lines and sewer systems. 

“We have sewer systems and water lines that are deteriorated and been neglected for so many years, and now we need millions and millions of dollars to change them,” he says.

But Alharbi says there is potential for change.

“We have potential to make it look nice and attract visitors and businesses and improve our city,” he says.

Alharbi, 44, was the highest vote getter in Hamtramck’s mayoral primary election, with 1,931 votes. 

Alharbi says repairing water and sewer lines can take place over years and phases.

Connecting Hamtramck

Recently, several Hamtramck city councilmembers have been charged or are being investigated for alleged election fraud cases.

He says its also important to educate voters, who may have a language barrier in the Yemeni and Bengali communities, to not present their ballots to any candidates, amid the allegations. 

“Some of them [voters], because either they’re fairly new in Hamtramck, they feel like, oh, a candidate, he’s a government employee. He’s asking me this, it must be legal, but they don’t think it’s legal,” he says.

Alharbi says working with influencers to create videos in various languages about the do’s and don’t’s of elections may help inform voters.

If elected, Alharbi says he will make educational videos about city meetings and host an annual State of the City to further engage residents.

“A lot of people don’t watch or attend the council meetings, so I will make sure that I provide videos afterwards, explaining what happened, what our plans are, what our challenges are, so that they’re aware” he says.

Welcoming business, bringing people together

Alharbi, who is a part of the Downtown Development Authority, says he plans to expand business in the city by updating parts of Banglatown in Hamtramck to reflect the Bangladeshi population. Similarly, he hopes to create a Yemen Town and World Town on Jos Campau to reflect the communities in the city and attract new businesses.

“We’re called the world in two square miles. We just want to make Hamtramck a better city, good reputation and welcoming to everyone,” he says. 

He says as a business owner, he will also work to ease business permits on Jos Campau and provide incentives to big businesses. 

Alharbi previously served on the Hamtramck Zoning Board of Appeals and as Vice President of the Yemeni American Leadership Association (YALA). 

Alharbi says he would like to host more events in the city to bring people together.

“We should look out for each other, because what unite us is far more than the differences we have,” he says.

He hopes to bring positive change to the city.

“I want a legacy that showcases a successful Yemeni Muslim person who improved a city regardless of the challenges that we had,” he says.

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Lynn Blasey, 42, is a write in candidate for Hamtramck mayor. She says she decided to run after community members asked her to run.

“When some community members approached me, it was really asking me to be a voice or a viable choice that residents can feel more comfortable about,” she says.

Blasey is the co-director of Community Arts Partnerships for the College for Creative Studies. She has worked at the education department at the Arab American National Museum, educating people about Arab American communities. 

Blasey ran and lost bids for the Hamtramck City Council in 2021 and 2023. She serves as the vice chair of the Hamtramck Arts and Culture Commission. 

She created the Hamtramck Area Disaster Recovery Group as part of flood recovery efforts for FEMA after the floods in 2021.

Uplifting Hamtramck

Blasey says she’s concerned about Hamtramck’s public image.

“People across the world have some pretty negative opinions of our city, and so this is a really good opportunity to sway that narrative and help celebrate the wonderful, magical things that make this community so unique and diverse,” she says. 

Blasey says she’s disappointed by the recent election fraud in the city.

“I have spoken up previously about the effects cheating has and that people doing it continuously is a degradation of our democracy and really weakens the whole system,” she says.

Blasey says she would like to hold people accountable by taking a firm stance against people who don’t respect the law.

She says it’s important to communicate and connect with community leaders and organizations in Hamtramck to bring people together.

“I think we need to return to having more town hall meetings, utilizing some of our public spaces when there are some of those more challenging issues on the table, really taking those to the community,” she says.

Supporting the arts and businesses

Blasey is connected to the city’s arts community. She says more can be done to leverage artists. 

“There is a huge design economy, arts economy, that Hamtramck is not really tapped into. We have a lot of artists here, but we’re not capitalizing on that,” she says.

Blasey is a part of the Hamtramck Downtown Development Authority’s Organization & Promotions sub-committee. 

“I think there are some really uniquely Hamtramck ways that we can attract new businesses,” she says.

She says it’s important for people to work together, building on each other’s strengths. 

“I think there is so much value in bringing people together,” she says.

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