By COREY WILLIAMS
Detroit mayoral candidate Mike Duggan campaigns in Detroit, Monday, Nov. 4, 2013. Duggan is running for mayor against Benny Napoleon in the general election on Tuesday. The job of the next Detroit mayor is a job that will have little immediate power, as the debt-ridden metropolis is guided through the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history by a state-appointed emergency manager. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
Mike Duggan
Mayoral candidate Mike Duggan speaks at a Detroit Economic Club meeting in Detroit, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2013. Duggan and Benny Napoleon received the most votes in the August primary and will face off in the Nov. 5 general election. Current Mayor Dave Bing chose not to seek re-election. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Benny Napoleon
Mayoral candidate Benny Napoleon speaks in Detroit, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2013. A candidate once thought to be dead is the front runner Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2013 in the race for Detroit mayor, a job that will have little immediate power as the city is guided through bankruptcy court by a state-appointed emergency manager. As the campaign winds down, a top issue has been which of the two candidates could do a better job working under the thumb of the emergency manager who will be around to run the show for at least another year. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Mike Duggan
Detroit mayoral candidate Mike Duggan meets with motorists at an intersection in Detroit, Monday, Nov. 4, 2013. Duggan is running for mayor against Benny Napoleon in the general election on Tuesday. The job of the next Detroit mayor is a job that will have little immediate power, as the debt-ridden metropolis is guided through the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history by a state-appointed emergency manager. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
Mike Duggan
Detroit mayoral candidate Mike Duggan campaigns in Detroit, Monday, Nov. 4, 2013. Duggan is running for mayor against Benny Napoleon in the general election on Tuesday. The job of the next Detroit mayor is a job that will have little immediate power, as the debt-ridden metropolis is guided through the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history by a state-appointed emergency manager. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
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DETROIT (AP) — A former write-in candidate once thought to have little chance of surviving Detroit’s primary election is favored to become the majority black city’s first white mayor in 40 years, a job with limited power as the debt-ridden city moves toward the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history under a state overseer.
The candidates were among the voters going to the polls Tuesday morning. Both front-runner Mike Duggan, a white ex-health care executive, and Benny Napoleon, the black Wayne County sheriff, say they oppose the Michigan takeover of city finances by gubernatorial appointee Kevin Orr.
“I’m going to try to shorten Kevyn Orr’s stay,” Duggan told The Associated Press.
The emergency financial manager filed for bankruptcy in July and says Detroit’s debt is at least $18 billion, much of it for retiree pensions and health benefits. After casting his vote, Duggan told reporters that if he’s elected his first order of business Wednesday will be calling the city’s police chief and working to improve police response time.
Napoleon, who also voted Tuesday morning, predicted victory despite trailing Duggan in recent polls and fundraising.
“Mike and I have always been fine. This is not personal. It’s politics,” he said. “At the end of the day, I’m going to win and he’s going to lose.”
Detroit has undergone a sharp economic and demographic decline over six-plus decades, with the population falling from 1.8 million in 1950 to a remnant of 700,000, largely low-income residents today. That process has been brought about by a mix of global economic forces, political corruption and municipal mismanagement.
Duggan, an ex-county prosecutor and former chief of the Detroit Medical Center, said he wants to persuade Gov. Rick Snyder to craft a plan to resuscitate the city’s fiscal condition.
Snyder has repeatedly defended his decision to put Orr in the driver’s seat at City Hall.
“Detroit’s fiscal crisis was six decades in the making,” Snyder said in a statement last week. “My job is to make the tough decisions to resolve the problems we face today, not ignore them.”
Despite being kicked off the August primary ballot due to a residency issue, Duggan received about 48,700 write-in votes. Napoleon, the sheriff and a former Detroit police chief, was on the ballot and received about 28,300 votes.
Current mayor and ex-NBA star Dave Bing did not seek re-election.
A poll released last week showed Napoleon lagging well behind Duggan, who also holds an almost 3-to-1 fundraising and spending edge. If Duggan is elected, he would become Detroit’s first white mayor since Roman Gribbs, whose term ended at the end of 1973. The city now is more than 80 percent black.
Napoleon and Duggan have campaigned on fixing Detroit’s deteriorating neighborhoods and reducing the high crime rate in a city that struggles to respond to 911 calls on time. Detroit has more than 30,000 vacant houses and buildings.
Either candidate would face challenges with any initiatives because Orr must OK all spending requests.
“I think they’re kidding themselves if they think they are going to regain financial control of this city,” said Detroit-based bankruptcy attorney Kenneth Schneider. “Even after Kevyn Orr, there will be a financial advisory board that will maintain control of the city’s finances indefinitely. The first part for any new mayor is to accept that and work with the state on how to right this city’s finances.”
