It wasn’t even close.
As expected, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan coasted to an easy re-election victory Tuesday night, defeating State Sen. Coleman Young II with over 70% of the vote.
That was despite Young II launching a series of nasty attacks. He accused Duggan of being corrupt, favoring downtown business interests over neighborhood concerns, and effectively creating “two Detroits:” one for prosperous newcomers, and another for mostly poor, longtime city residents.
Duggan alluded to those “us versus them attacks” in his victory speech without ever mentioning Young’s name, saying he deliberately chose to take the high road in his campaign.
“I decided I didn’t care. I wasn’t going to respond to it,” Duggan said.
“I hope that this is the year where we put us versus them politics behind us forever, because we believe in one Detroit for all of us.”
Duggan thanked his campaign staff, who he said knocked on more than 150,000 doors throughout the city
“We had 25,000 voters in houses that had lawn signs,” he said. “The way the numbers came in, we had more votes in the lawn sign houses than my opponent had votes total.”
Duggan took over as mayor just as Detroit emerged from the nation’s largest-ever municipal bankruptcy.
He campaigned on his record of restoring many basic city services, such as streetlights and garbage pick-up, that had been spotty or absent for years.
Acknowledging the city has a long way to go on a variety of fronts, Duggan said the focus in his second term will be on creating opportunities for people from every corner of Detroit. “This is one city and I want to make sure that there’s room for everybody in it,” he said.
Meanwhile, Young congratulated Mayor Mike Duggan, and said he’s still dedicated to helping make life better for people in Detroit.
“I mean we just need to have an inclusionary city, we need to have a compassionate city," Young said. "That will be the fight of my life. Politics or not.”
Young said the campaign was rewarding, but also a tough grind for him and his family.
He says he’ll continue to work for a better Detroit as a state senator.
