Attorney Todd Perkins kicked off his Detroit mayoral bid Wednesday night in front of a standing-room-only crowd at a recreation center in his native North End neighborhood, declaring himself a “neighborhood mayor” who would help them grow by leaning on corporations.
“I believe the next mayor is someone who must put the people of Detroit first and also work with the business community for the benefit of all,” the lawyer who runs a downtown firm told the crowd gathered at the Considine Recreation Center on Woodward Avenue, adding, “I am the only self-made CEO running for mayor.”
In an interview with the Free Press ahead of Wednesday’s kickoff, Perkins, 55, said he was running to give back to the city where he was born and raised.
“This is at a point in time in which I see the city at a crossroads,” he said. “We’ve seen a lot of progress, but progress is also relative because it means progress for whom?
“That momentum must carry us, but I just don’t think we can come in here with the business as usual,” he said.
Perkins joins the race to replace longtime Mayor Mike Duggan in a crowded field that includes current and former elected city officials. A political newcomer, he has spent his approximately three-decade career as an attorney specializing in criminal and civil litigation. He also helped lead a successful 2021 ballot effort to create a reparations task force.
North End community leaders, lawyers and a former circuit court judge who spoke at Wednesday’s event described Perkins as a man of integrity willing to address issues head-on. Many in the crowd of approximately 200 knew Perkins personally, and some said they’d benefited from his help.
“He’s a community guy,” said David Dunbar, 59, who also grew up in the North End. “He donates a lot, hosts a lot of functions with free food, giving back to the kids. He even gives … free legal services sometimes. He took care of some personal issues for me and mentored my son,” inspiring him to go to law school, said Dunbar.
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Perkins devoted much of his 17-minute speech to introducing himself in the field of higher-profile candidates. Raised with five brothers in the North End by a father who was a barber and mother who was a library clerk, Perkins said the family had no phone and, at times, no utilities. Still, his parents were able to send all six boys to Catholic school, he said.
“My story is a true rising from the ashes, Job-like in many ways and in many ways just like Detroit,” Perkins said, referencing the biblical figure who lost his family, health and wealth.
Perkins outlined a range of priorities Wednesday, including improving public safety and mass transit, creating more housing, and growing Detroit employment to encourage economic activity and spur population growth.
He offered limited specifics on how he would achieve his goals, but has spoken to prioritizing salvaging structures over demolishing them, putting Detroiters to work renovating homes, and building partnerships between police and neighborhood residents to help officers identify “who really runs the block.” He has also pledged to conduct a forensic audit of city hall if elected to ensure transparency and accountability.
Perkins also said he plans to galvanize business and philanthropic leaders to invest more in the city in what he says will be a mutually beneficial relationship.
“I want more from them. If they give me more, this city will give you more, too,” Perkins told the Free Press. “I want them to know that they have a voice downtown … that they’ve elected someone who hears them.”More: Protesters in Detroit and Canada unify across river, rally against Trump presidencyMore: Water shutoff notice on Wayne County court was false alarm
His legal experience gives him an edge, he said, providing him with knowledge of law enforcement, contracts, municipal and tax issues, and the ability to balance “emotion and sound judgment.”
Perkins has represented a number of government employees in controversial, high-profile cases. They include Tony Saunders II, the former Wayne County chief financial officer accused of hitting his wife multiple times at their home; 36th District Court Judge Kenneth King, who was accused of violating a teenager’s rights after threatening her with jail time for sleeping in his courtroom on a field trip, and Detroit Police Department Officer Alonzo Jones, who was convicted of accepting bribes from an individual in the towing industry and an undercover federal agent.
Perkins told the Free Press he believes the client list “shows a sense of community involvement, a sense of community responsibility.”
Supporters in attendance Wednesday included former Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Richard Hathaway, Wayne County Criminal Defense Bar Association president Lillian Diallo, and Art Blackwell, a former longtime Detroit politician was convicted in 2013 of misusing funds as Highland Park emergency manager. Blackwell has consulted for the Perkins campaign, according to campaign manager Renette Jackson.
Perkins formed his candidate committee in January and says he has collected more than 1,000 signatures to make it onto the ballot.
Other candidates in the race, so far, are the Rev. Solomon Kinloch of Triumph Church; City Council President Mary Sheffield; former City Councilwoman and nonprofit CEO Saunteel Jenkins; Detroit City Councilman Fred Durhal III; businessmen Joel Haashiim and Jonathan Barlow, and activist Rogelio Landin.
Dana Afana is the Detroit city hall reporter for the Free Press. Contact: [email protected]. Follow her: @DanaAfana.
