Overview
Several cities in Michigan other than Detroit held city council and mayoral elections during the 2005 election cycle. The largest concentration of elections were in Oakland and Wayne Counties.
Novi
Year Founded 1969 (incorporation date)
Area 31 square miles
Population 50,800 (2003 estimate)
Incumbent Lou Csordas did not run for re-election. David Landry, a city councilman since 2001, won in a race against mortgage firm owner Keith Kuhn.
Jackson
Year Founded 1829
Area 11 square miles
Population 35,200 (2003 estimate)
The 10-year incumbent mayor, Martin Griffin, was challenged by Earnestine Clayton, a first-time political office-seeker who said that she was "on a mission from the Lord" and received financial backing from the Campaign for Michigan Families, a group allied with the religious right.
Dearborn
Year Founded 1786
Area 24 square miles
Population 96,700 (2003 estimate)
Incumbent Michael Guido faced no opposition in his bid for a sixth four-year term. Guido has been in office since 1986, longer than any other mayor of a major Michigan city.
Pontiac
Year Founded 1818
Area 20 square miles
Population 67,200 (2003 estimate)
Pontiac Mayor Willie Payne, in office since 2001, lost a re-election bid to challenger Clarence Phillips, a Michigan State Representative and a former city councilman. Payne was not a popular mayor and was weighted down by a $34 million budget deficit and by conflicts with his own deputy mayor.
Muskegon
Year Founded 1837
Area 14 square miles
Population 39,800 (2003 estimate)
Incumbent Mayor Steve Warmington, in office since 2003, won in a race against the city's veteran Leisure Services director, Ric Scott, in the 2005 election.
Royal Oak
Year Founded 1921
Area 12 square miles
Population 56,200 (2005 estimate)
Incumbent Mayor Jim Ellison, in office since 2003, faced business consultant Kevin Konczal in the 2005 election. Major issues facing the town included deciding whether to privatize some city services, and deciding whether to raise taxes or to sell city parks or a city golf course to address a $5 million budget deficit.
Mount Clemens
Year Founded 1879
Area 4 square miles
Population 15,400 (2005 estimate)
Incumbent Mayor Quinnie Cody steeped aside after governing the town off and on for 18 years. Two city council members, Barb Dempsey and Karan Bates-Gasior, vied for the chance to replace Cody. The major issue facing the town was a budget deficit that necessitated the elimination of the town's parks department and the contracting of law enforcement and dispatch services out to the Macomb County Sheriff's Department.
Hamtramck
Year Founded 1921
Area 2 square miles
Population 23,800 (2003 estimate)
The incumbent mayor, Tom Jankowski, was turned out of office, losing to City Council President Karen Majewski after having to deny allegations that he had groped and struck a woman at a local bar in April 2005.
Romulus
Year Founded 1835
Area 1 square miles
Population 23,900 (2005 estimate)
Incumbent Alan Lambert's opponent in the campaign was Debbie Romak, a community activist. Two of the main issues in the campaign were plans supported by Lambert to dispose of toxic waste through commercial wells near Detroit Metropolitan Airport and to build an Indian casino, also near the airport.
Lansing
Year Founded 1837
Area 35 square miles
Population 118,380 (2003 estimate)
Tony Benavides, former city council president and incumbent mayor since 2003, was involved in a bitter race against Virgil Bernero, a Michigan State Senator since 2000 and a member of the Ingham County Board of Commissioners for 8 years. The two men were running against each other for the second time, the first matchup having been in 2003. The candidates debated mainly about community policing, budget problems, and Lansing's diminishing population. Bernero received most of the major political and civic endorsements and had an overwhelming campaign finance advantage over Benavides.
|