DETROIT — Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan has pushed past his opponent to win a third-term leading the state's largest city, in one of the least surprising victories of the night.
As early, unofficial results roll in, the margins in Duggan's race against challenger Anthony Adams were such that the former deputy mayor had no chance of catching Duggan.
The Detroit mayor race results came as Metro Detroit races are beginning to widen and residents await more detailed results on leadership races, the formation of a reparations committee and several local millages.
Among the races still taking shape: Dearborn, Dearborn Heights and Hamtramck have the chance to elect their first Arab American and Muslim mayors, and Taylor could elect its first Latino mayor.
Other elections in Detroit, Taylor and Romulus are taking place as certain city leaders remain under investigation by federal authorities.
Pontiac, Royal Oak and Sterling Heights also could see changes in leadership.
The next leader of Detroit
With 74% of precincts reporting, Duggan, 63, was leading over 65-year-old Adams by 29 percentage points — 64% to 35% — for a new four-year term leading Detroit.
Adams, a deputy mayor under Kwame Kilpatrick, is the underdog in the race, winning just 10% of the August primary vote while Duggan took 72%.
Adams, a Democrat, vowed to stay focused "on the people of the city" and criticized Duggan's focus on bringing business into Detroit.
Duggan has prioritized his campaign on creating "One Detroit for Everyone" that would seek to revitalize neighborhoods, create affordable housing and get jobs and job training for Detroit residents.
Detroit's changing council
After months of scandal and investigation, the Detroit City Council will see a significant amount of turnover with Tuesday's vote as four of the nine council seats are expected to see new leaders.
Of those four seats are two at-large council member roles that are sure to be closely watched since two of the candidates running are overshadowed by federal investigations.
With 55% of precincts reporting, former state Sen. Coleman Young II and incumbent at-large council member Janeé Ayers were leading in the at-large race with 32% and 25% of the vote respectively. Challenger Mary Waters was close at Ayers' heels with 24% of the vote and Nicole Small had 19% of the vote.
Ayers, 39, was recently targeted by the FBI in an August raid of her home, while Waters, 66, pleaded guilty in May 2010 to a misdemeanor charge of filing a false tax return and was sentenced later that year to one year of probation on claims she received a $6,000 Rolex watch from a Southfield jewelry store.
Ayers and Waters are two of four Democratic candidates looking to fill the two at-large seats. They are joined on the ballot by former Detroit Charter Revision Commission Vice Chair Small, 41, and Young II, 38.
Separately, a Detroit ballot proposal asked voters whether the city should form a committee to consider reparations for residents, 77% of whom are Black. The committee could advise ways to address a legacy of government systemic racism in the city.
New firsts possible in Metro Detroit
Four Metro Detroit communities are under the spotlight Tuesday as they decide whether to elect Arab American and Latino mayors for the first time in their histories.
Dearborn: Democratic state Rep. Abdullah Hammoud, 31, would become Dearborn's first Arab American and Muslim mayor if he bests Gary Woronchak, a 66-year-old former Dearborn Press & Guide editor and state representative with deep roots in the city. Nearly half of the city's 110,000 residents identify as Arab American.
Hammoud or Woronchak, both Democrats, will replace Mayor John "Jack" O'Reilly Jr.
Dearborn Heights: Appointed Mayor Bill Bazzi, 58, would become the first elected Arab American and Muslim mayor for the city if he fends off a challenge from Council Chairwoman Denise Malinowski Maxwell, 61.
Bazzi was appointed mayor after Mayor Daniel Paletko's death in January of COVID-related symptoms.
Hamtramck: Challenger Amer Ghalib, 41, would become the city's first Arab American and Muslim mayor if he bests four-term Mayor Karen Majewski, 66. Both are Democrats.
The city, which for years was a mostly European immigrant community, has grown to become a majority-minority community over the last two decades, with an increasing number of residents of Middle Eastern and South Asian descent.
Taylor: Democratic state Rep. Alex Garza, 27, would become the city's first Latino mayor if he defeats City Council Chairman Tim Woolley, 51. They are running to replace Mayor Rick Sollars, 47, who is not on the ballot but is running a write-in campaign.
Senate race
In Macomb County, Republican state Rep. Douglas Wozniak of Shelby Township was leading in early results against Democrat Martin Robert Genter of Harrison Township in the Republican-leaning 8th Senate District race.
Wozniak had 86% of the vote to Genter's 14% with one of 13 precincts reporting.
The men are running to finish the term of former state Sen. Pete Lucido, the Shelby Township Republican elected Macomb County prosecutor last year. The term finishes at the end of 2022.
Other mayoral races
In Sterling Heights, challenger Ken Nelson, 71, is vying to unseat Mayor Michael Taylor, 38, for the part-time gig to lead the state's fourth-largest city. Taylor is a Republican. Nelson describes himself as a "non-partisan conservative."
In Royal Oak, a field of five candidates dubbing themselves the "A-Team" are challenging four incumbent city commissioners and Mayor Michael Fournier, 42, after long-standing disagreements over the city's direction.
Tom Roth, a 60-year-old software engineer and current commander of the Frank Wendland American Legion Post 253, is challenging Fournier.
As of 9 p.m., Fournier was leading in unofficial results.
In Pontiac, former Michigan House Minority Leader and Oakland County Commissioner Tim Greimel, 47, is leading in early results in the race for mayor against Alexandria Riley, 35, the city's ex-chief development officer. Both are Democrats. Mayor Deirdre Waterman, 76, was scrubbed from the primary ballot because of campaign finance issues.
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