DETROIT (AP) -- Incumbent Dave Bing will move on to the Nov. 3 general election in his pursuit of a four-year term as Detroit mayor.
The professional basketball Hall-of-Famer and former businessman had more than 74 percent of the vote with 98 percent of Detroit's 629 precincts reporting in Tuesday's nonpartisan primary.
Of the five remaining mayoral candidates, Tom Barrow had 11.1 percent and Jerroll Sanders had 10 percent of the vote. The top two vote-getters will compete in November. The three other candidates each had less than 3 percent.
Bing has been mayor since May after defeating interim Mayor Ken Cockrel Jr. in a runoff election to complete Kwame Kilpatrick's second term. Kilpatrick resigned last September as part of a plea deal in a text-messaging sex scandal that sent him to jail for 99 days.
"We talked about changing the way this city operates, and since May I am exceedingly proud of the staff we put together to lead the city back," Bing said during a victory celebration at his campaign headquarters Tuesday night.
Elections director Daniel Baxter estimated that only 15 percent of Detroit's approximately 576,000 registered voters cast ballots Tuesday, on the low end of what he had expected. Many polling places throughout the city saw only a trickle of voters, who were also narrowing the list of candidates for City Council, city clerk, charter commission and school board.
The vote came in the aftermath of scandals that have seen its mayor and a City Council member pleading guilty to felonies and a widening budget deficit that threatens drastic service cuts.
"Whoever takes over as mayor, he's like our president -- he's dropped in a cesspool," said Gerald Thomas, 61. He described himself as a reluctant Bing backer, preferring Cockrel, who didn't challenge Bing in the race to hold the office for the coming four years.
All nine council seats were up for a vote. A staggering 168 names appeared on the Detroit City Council ballot, although only 167 were valid. Elections officials say it was too late to remove former Councilwoman Monica Conyers' name after her bribery plea.
With 563 precincts reporting, five of the six council incumbents were in the top 18 vote-getters.
Former WJBK-TV reporter and anchor Charles Pugh had 8.8 percent, followed by Cockrel Jr. with 7.2 percent and ex-Detroit Deputy Police Chief Gary Brown with 6 percent. Neither former Motown singer and Councilwoman Martha Reeves nor Conyers was in the top 25.
Thomas described Detroit's elected leadership as "a scandalous group of people" but said Cockrel and some of the other incumbents seeking re-election should keep their jobs.
"Experience could be the thing that brings us out of this situation," Thomas said.
Delphia Simmons voted for Bing, saying he needs more time on the job. "I'm just happy there hasn't been any scandal attached to it," she added.
But Simmons, 51, also believed a good house cleaning was needed on the council. The only incumbent she voted for was Cockrel. A new group might make his job as council president easier, given the problems of the current board, she said.
"They represented us very poorly," Simmons said. "I'm so embarrassed with some of the things they say ... very unprofessional."
None of the council incumbents received Pat Roper's vote.
"Our city, I hope and pray it's taken into an entirely new direction," Roper said. "All the sitting people on the City Council ought to be gone."
Print this story
E-mail this story
